Something Old, Something New
by MasterAverage
Summary: It was just his luck that he'd run into a bride whose soon-to-be-hubby ditched her. Soul is just too good of a guy to leave a girl crying out in public alone; but it turns out it's harder to get rid of her than he thought, and he doesn't really mind that. Soma AU.
1. Chapter 1

**First Soul Eater fic, and I couldn't help but make it an AU.**

**Thanks for reading :)**

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Chapter 1: On the Stairs

It was bright out- too bright in his opinion, but he forced himself out the door of his apartment building and into the sunshine that was brought with a new morning. With a grimace, he looked out and realized that just like any other day he would have to start his morning off by fighting through the crowds of annoying city-dwellers that always greeted him in masses whenever he left his home. He hated it.

His apartment building just so happened to be right next to the most elegant five star hotel in Death City, so his mornings also usually involved a bunch of snobby rich people cutting him off as he tried to walk down the large conjoined stone stairs that led to the busy streets. With a loud groan he didn't bother bottling in, Soul 'Eater' Evans swung his bag over his shoulder and began marching down the stairs. A large man with an expensive looking coat and gelled-over hair glanced at Soul worriedly and pulled his (what appeared to be) girlfriend towards him and away from Soul, as if he would do anything that could be considered 'dangerous'. Soul pretended he didn't notice and continued down the stairs.

He was used to it by this point. Having crimson eyes and white hair was weird enough, but dressing in dark jeans and a faded leather jacket like he usually did made him look even more like some sort of delinquent. Whenever he passed by, mothers would clutch their children's hands and elderly women would hold their purses tightly to their chests.

It was ridiculous, he knew; but he couldn't blame them either. Sure, _he_ knew that he'd never hurt a fly but putting himself in a random passerbyers position he probably wouldn't feel too comfortable around himself either.

It was probably the eyes.

Just like every morning he had his schedule planned out, but today he had a bit more leeway with it seeing as he didn't have much to do. It was Saturday, which meant he had the day off from his lame-ass job at the coffee shop. He hated working there, but it was enough to keep him fed every day and living in his small and dinky apartment while he continued pitching his stupid movie idea to the big-guys. It used to be a full-time job that he had; fun, too. He got a couple of ideas made into small things like commercials or ads, but this movie idea was golden, _he knew that_. But the company he worked under told him to give it up after numerous failed attempts to have it bought. He refused to give it up and therefore the company demoted him and until he finally got the movie idea off his hands he would be stuck with it. And that meant having to work as a freaking barista to pay the bills too.

Once again, he hated it.

A lot of people were running in and out of the Shibusen Hotel next door, and Soul wondered if those people with their expensive clothes and sleek hair ever had to worry about paying for an apartment, or keeping a job, or having enough money to pay for a burger at the local fast food joint.

There was a wedding this morning at the Shibusen Hotel, which explained the influx of people littering the front in addition to the usual mass. The only reason he knew was because his friend happened to be the 'plus one' to the maid of honor. Blackstar had only been dating that women for a couple months but they were enamored with each other and going through that lovey-dovey phase that made Soul want to vomit out his value menu burrito from last night's dinner all over the steps he was currently walking down. He only met Tsubaki a couple of times but she seemed _too_ nice; especially for someone as egotistical as that blue-haired idiot.

He shrugged off the idea, choosing to focus on his path down the stairs as he mulled over his breakfast options. What was the point anyway; he'd end up settling on McDonald's and he knew it.

He was just about to hop off the final step and land on the sidewalk when he heard a muffled sob. Curious, Soul turned behind him where he heard the noise come from.

Odd, it was a person. A girl. And the fact she was crying wasn't the weird part.

Every part of Soul's common sense informed him to ignore this dilemma and continue towards McDonald's; it would be too much trouble to involve himself. That's how he functioned: he always stayed out of other people's business and carried on.

But he also had a conscience whether he liked it or not.

The muffled crying was coming from a girl sitting halfway up the large stairs behind one of the thick pillars, leaning against it with her knees pulled up against her chest. She picked a good spot to not be noticed due to it being on the opposite side of the pillar from everyone going up and down to and from the hotel, but it was still visible from the streets. So maybe he _shouldn't_ intervene. Someone was sure to see this girl crying and say something and approach her, so he needn't worry.

Still, a nagging thought in the back of Soul's head told him that anyone else seeing her could be thinking the same exact thing that he was and the poor girl would be alone all day like that.

And that _still_ wasn't the worst part.

She was wearing a damn wedding dress with her dark ashy blond pigtails curled loosely and hanging low on her shoulders. Who the hell wore pigtails on their wedding day anyway?

Welp, it didn't seem like it mattered for her anyway. Either she was crying with nervousness or her husband-to-be skipped out on the wedding and left her hanging, and Soul was pretty sure it was the latter.

Her veil was tossed haphazardly beside her on one of the cold steps and he could tell that her curled hair was a bit more tousled than originally intended. The dress was pretty, and that was saying something coming from a guy who wasn't interested in 'fashion' at all; but it was probably going to start getting dirty from her sitting on the outdoor stairs.

Soul groaned, both sides of him tugging at his moral state. The nagging good-guy Soul said that this girl probably needed someone to talk to, but the selfish asshole Soul (the guy who usually won in the end) was telling him to get the hell out of there and get his hash browns and coffee when it was still early enough to order off the breakfast menu.

Just as he was about to bail and hightail it down the street, he heard the girl sniff loudly again and whimper and he knew that the good-guy Soul was triumphant for once. It was bound to happen eventually.

"Ugh, dammit," he sighed as he ran a hand through his white hair and started walking up the stairs, tentatively getting closer and closer to the emotional bride; with each step he felt himself becoming more and more uncomfortable.

Once he managed to get up right next to her he was mildly surprised that she didn't even look up. Was it possible she didn't even notice the presence of someone standing right next to her as she cried her eyes out?

Awkwardly (and not cute awkward either, just straight up uncomfortably), Soul sat by her feet and cleared his throat, hoping to gain her attention. His plan worked at the bride's head snapped up and she stared at him, startled.

He was amazed that eyes existed that were that big and that green. Somehow that only made him feel _worse _because this chic looked insanely innocent and harmless and the fact some dude probably skipped out on her just seemed unholy.

"So, uh… hi."

_Nice, _he mentally scolded himself, _way to start up a conversation. _

"Hi."

Her voice sounded broken, most likely the result from an hour of crying mixed with the stress that came with any wedding day. He couldn't find anything in her words because there was nothing there to find. It was just so _empty_ the way she said it.

"So, uh, I couldn't help but notice you seem a bit upset," Soul coughed and shifted uncomfortably in his spot on the stairs.

She chortled with bitter amusement, "Psh, you could say that. You would be too if you were just completely and utterly mortified in front of everyone you know."

Soul shrugged. She was right to be honest. He never really embarrassed himself, not even when he was demoted in his job. It was all very cut and dry and wasn't meant to offend him. It just happened. His family never really appreciated his line of work or lack of social life either, but they weren't rude or vocal about it. In fact they could even be considered supportive. They never embarrassed him publically and rarely even alone.

Not getting embarrassed easily was one of the perks of not having a lot of people in your life.

"I guess you're right," he said, stretching back and resting his elbows against a higher step than the one he was sitting on, "but maybe letting it get to you is making it worse."

The girl's jaw dropped and she glared at him with those enamoring eyes.

"Listen up, asshat, do you think you can sit down and give me advice when you don't even _know me?_ I just spent this entire month planning and setting up with stupid wedding at this stupid hotel because he wanted it to be at someplace 'classy'. Do you know how many strings I had to pull to rent this place out? I'm just lucky I know the bastard that owns it! I spend all this time planning and I even wore _heels. _I cannot walk in heels! They hurrrrt. And not only do I get all dressed up and looking nice and have my whole family waiting for this magical wedding to this dreamy asshole, but he chooses to wait until I'm getting ready to walk down the damn isle before I get the memo he skipped out. So yeah, Mr. Sharingan, I'm a little pissed and I think I have every right to be."

_Mr. Sharingan? _He shook his head and dismissed the weird nickname.

"Hey, hey, I wasn't trying to imply that you weren't screwed over," Soul waved his hands in defense, "I'm just saying that the more upset you let yourself get the more you're letting this asshole win."

The girl bit her lip and after a moment she let out a long sigh and dropped her arms to her sides.

"This sucks. Literally every single person in my extended family passed by me with a 'poor, sweet, dear' look on their face and now I think proper social protocol dictates I give back all the wedding gifts. This is _so _embarrassing."

Soul couldn't help but notice that she seemed more upset that the guy ditched her and left her to put up with pitying family than the fact the guy she was supposed to marry and love forever decided to drop her like a hot potato. He wouldn't dare voice this little fact though; she seemed to be having a crappy enough time already.

"I mean, who does that? He could've at least had the decency to maybe cancel it a couple weeks in advance. Maybe even last night. But I'm actually wearing the dress and now everyone knows how unwanted I felt in that moment."

Soul felt his cold, icy heart melt a little at the girl's statement and frowned.

"If he's willing to leave just like that then he isn't worth your time." And Soul meant it. Even if he found the whole idea of marriage kind of stupid, he didn't think it was _un_cool if people wanted to solidify their relationships or whatever. But to think that some people would actually go as far as the wedding day and then decide their partner wasn't worth their time? It seemed kind of harsh.

It was quiet, and all the two could hear was the traffic in the streets of Death City and the click-clack of shoes against the stone steps to their left.

"The worst part is," she whispered suddenly, "everyone is telling me that he just got nervous. They're saying I should just wait it out and that he'll come back and be sorry. They're saying that next time our wedding will go off without a hitch." She stopped talking once she got to the point she started to choke up again, but Soul nodded for her to continue, and that she did. "The worst part is that they all expect me to be okay with this. They expect me to welcome him back with open arms. But after this I don't know if I want to marry him anymore. It just seems kind of pointless to give him a second chance when he clearly doesn't want to marry me."

Soul took a deep breath and tested his luck, "Do you mind if I ask a question?"

The girl nodded, but her eyes were trained on the streets below them, at the people who were walking about their daily lives and seemingly had not a care in the world.

"Do _you _want to marry this guy?"

The girl was quiet and a look of guilty admittance crossed her face. She played with the lace on her wedding dress and sighed heavily, finally glancing up and meeting Soul's red eyes.

"I don't know anymore."

"Why is that?"

She shrugged, "I have to admit I don't really _love _love him. He was nice enough to me and we got along well. I cared for him more as a friend. My parents pushed me to date him and I did and they just assumed that I was in love. I guess I managed to convince myself that too. I was just hoping that once we got married I'd eventually fall in love with him, if I was lucky."

Soul scoffed. He couldn't help but notice the uncanny similarity between himself and this girl. He could relate easily to not having love in his life and not really feeling a need for it either. The only difference between him and this girl was that while he convinced himself he was happy without the love of people who cared about him (save for his family and, admittedly, Black Star), this girl seemed to want to convince herself that this love existed when in reality it was a farce.

"I guess it's all my fault. I'm an idiot," she laughed, attempting to play it off as a joke but Soul sensed that what she spoke was what she deemed to be the truth.

"Y'know, I don't think you're an idiot at all. I'm sure it's been done before; people marrying before they were really in love. In fact, it's happened a lot. At least you cared enough to show up. Do you know if this guy loves you?"

She shook her head, "I used to think he may have but I recently found out that his family's business is trying to set up a partnership with my family's friends. Actually, the owners of this hotel. I guess in hindsight I can see why he wanted the wedding to be at this hotel so badly."

"So you think he was using you to get to these people for _means of business?_" Soul was sure that he looked absolutely disgusted at this point. And he had every right to be! What kind of a jerk-wad actually did that to someone?

She shook her head though and crossed her arms, holding her elbows.

"No. He's a nice enough guy. I think we were friends. His family was pushy about it since they cared a lot more about the business partnership than he did. And I guess I assumed that this was the closest I'd ever get to love and I kind of just agreed. It's both of our faults I suppose. We were both too much of pushovers to admit that this wasn't what we wanted."

"Then why do you seem so pissed?" Soul asked with a genuine tone of curiosity.

"Maybe it's because he didn't let me know until five minutes before we were supposed to be saying 'I do' and he didn't even have the courage to tell me himself. He had some staff member tell me while I was in front of my parents. _Ugh, _it was so embarrassing."

She pulled her knees to her face again and let out a long groan and Soul really felt bad for her now. He was still curious about a couple things but overall she seemed genuinely upset that this wedding didn't work out. He wasn't some love guru or whatever but for some reason he had a feeling that she was better off not marrying this guy, especially if neither of them really loved each other.

"So, uh, where's everyone else?"

She picked her head up a little but kept it resting on her knees, "Both of our families are going home. Most of them flew here so I guess they'll be staying wherever they're booked for the night then flying home. My parents wanted to stay with me but I told them to fly home too. I don't think I can bring them back to Hiro and my apartment, since they were staying with us and everything this week. Ugh, I knew I should never have agreed moved in with him."

Soul lifted his hands in a 'welp what are you gonna do' manner, "The rent had to be reasonable."

The girl actually laughed, a smile forming on her lips for the first time since he sat down next to her and he couldn't help but grin. He was glad at least his annoying wit brought any semblance of joy to her on such a crappy day.

"Yeah, rent wasn't too bad. His family is well off but we needed a place I could afford too. The sucky part is that he's probably back at the apartment and I don't think I can deal with talking to him right now."

"And your parents…" Soul trailed off.

"They're living in New York right now. I would go stay with them but it would be idiotic to run away and leave everything else behind just 'cause I'm embarrassed, don't you think?"

Soul nodded, definitely agreeing with her analysis. He didn't think anyone should give up their home just because someone else wanted to ruin it for them. Even if this 'Hiro' was as innocent in the whole marriage as she claimed.

"Seems like you're in quite the pickle," he assessed.

The girl laughed again and sat up a bit straighter. He was glad she seemed to be amused by his statement, but the girl had to come to terms with the fact that what he said was very true.

"Do you have a friend you can stay with?"

She shrugged, a certain emotion coming across her face.

"Yeah, I have a couple. I just don't feel like being around them right now. They all are aboard the whole 'He'll come back don't worry you'll still have a happily ever after with him' train. I don't wanna listen to that right now. Besides, my best friend is in that stupid smooch-smooch phase with her boyfriend and I don't think crashing at her place is a good idea unless I have noise cancelling headphones."

"Ew."

"Yep."

"So what are you gonna do?"

With a loud sigh of exhaustion, the girl let her head drop against the pillar behind her with a quiet 'thunk'.

"I don't know. I'll figure it out later. Anyway, thanks for the talk. I guess strangers give the best advice."

Soul made an odd face, wondering how on earth she managed to find advice in whatever he said to her, or how in any way shape or form he made things better. Still, he'd feel like crap leaving this girl here when she told everyone else to go home. Even if solitude was what she told them she wanted Soul doubted that's what was good for her.

He stood up and examined her face. She was looking down at the streets again, her hands resting on her knees atop the pretty white lace of the wedding dress. She possessed a certain look of sadness, but it was nowhere near as bad as when Soul had first approached her.

"Uh, I was gonna go get some breakfast. I don't know if you have any plans seeing as your previous event has been canceled and whatnot…" Eek. That came out wrong.

The girl laughed and waved it off, thankfully finding humor in his unlucky habit of always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

"Yeah, no. I was just planning on sitting here and feeling sorry for myself all day. Kind of sad but what's a girl to do?"

Soul offered his hand to her, "Ever experience McDonald's breakfast? It's really good actually. An acquired taste but still good."

She raised an eyebrow, as if to ask him if he was serious. He nodded, and stressed the hand he had held out for her.

"Do you have anything else better to do?" he pushed.

With a grimace, she muttered, "Good point," and reached out and accepted his hand. He pulled her up and frowned with a bit of surprised confusion when she was standing. She was petite, and looked younger than he had originally expected. He had to look down at her to meet her eyes and for some odd reason it bothered him that someone so young looking was supposed to be getting married. Maybe it was because it reminded him that he was getting to the point it was ridiculous he was never in any form of a serious relationship while this girl was getting ready to say 'I do'.

"How old are you anyway?" he asked bluntly.

The girl's mouth opened and she looked offended, "Are you trying to hit on me on my wedding day? Did your mother ever teach you manners?"

He was about to deny the claim when she started laughing. Oh, so she liked making jokes too.

"I'm twenty-two. And yes, I know that I'm pretty young to be getting married. My naivety may have been part of the issue at hand. "

"Eh, I'm not one to judge. It's just a bit of a reality check to realize I'm part of a generation that's already getting hitched. Yikes."

She laughed lightly and started to descend the stairs, the small train of her dress trailing behind her. Soul knew that it sucked and everything that she was practically dumped and that she had just been a ball of tears fifteen minutes ago but she did look rather radiant in that dress.

Even with the silly pigtails.

"This is going to be the weirdest thing I've ever done," she noted as Soul quickly followed her down the stairs, feeling quite underdressed in just a leather jacket and t-shirt, "going to McDonalds in a wedding dress. It'll make for a good story someday, I guess."

He grinned, "Definitely. Hey, maybe they'll give you a discount or something."

She smirked, "Totally. Maybe if I act like a distressed bride who got dumped at her wedding they'll give me a whole breakfast for free. Besides, I wouldn't really need to do much acting."

Soul frowned, realizing that he still hadn't learned this girl's name. He practically knew every current struggle of her life and her personal issues, but still didn't have anything to call her by.

"By the way," he said as they walked down the busy streets of Death City, ignoring the confused faces turning their way at the sight of a girl walking down the street in a wedding dress as if it were any other Saturday and she was just taking a morning stroll, "I'm Soul Ea- Evans. Soul Evans."

The girl gave him a curious glance but shrugged it off and looked forward once again.

"Maka Albarn. Pleasure to meet you."

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**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Next chapter- Hope you enjoy!**

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Chapter 2: Spaghetti for a Change

He was trying- yet failing quite miserably- to read the expressions that crossed Maka's face as she munched on chicken nuggets that she deemed to be "suitable breakfast food". She hadn't changed out of the wedding dress nor had she gone home to see if Hiro was there. She told him that he definitely was, and that their apartment had been his happy place and it was where they hung out most of the time.

Soul asked her if it bothered her that he got to go back to their apartment while she was the one left outside.

"Nah," Maka shook her head slowly and took another bite out of her nugget, complimented by a sip of cherry coke, "It's not like he's refusing to let me go back. He just knows that I probably don't want to. If I had to take a guess I'd say he thinks I'm at my friend's house right now."

"Your friend?"

Maka nodded, finally swapping the eye contact she was making with her breakfast/lunch to look at him. She didn't seem that upset anymore, then again that might just be the fast food giving her a short but noticeable boost in attitude. If he had to take a stab at it Soul would say that she would be cheery and then as soon as the effect the unhealthy meal had on her wore off, she'd be gloomy once more. He felt bad and wondered if getting himself involved was a good idea, but they _had _gotten their food for free. It was nice not having to pay for a couple of burritos every once and a while.

"Why _aren't _you staying with your friend?"

She sighed heavily and leaned back against the booth she was sitting in, "I told you already. She's just going to tell me not to be upset and that he'll still want to marry me. I really don't want that right now. And that boyfriend of hers is probably with her and I do _not _want to be around him."

"Why not?" Soul asked, stretching back and mirroring the position she had taken of being slumped against the seat.

Maka made a disgusted face and wrinkled her nose as if she were remembering the guy in question.

"He's so loud and obnoxious. He'll probably make a big joke out of this. I can't handle that idiot normally so I'm pretty sure I don't want to be around him when he has ammo to use against me."

Soul smiled a little, "Yeah, I have a friend who's like that. He's really annoying to be around but he's a hell of a guy once you get to know him."

Maka rolled her eyes, "If you love him so much why don't you just marry him?"

Soul laughed again, not as much at the joke but at the fact this girl who had just been crying on the steps outside of his building was now snipping at him with snarky comebacks. He was used to this kind of behavior from Blackstar, but it was even funnier coming from such a small and unsuspecting girl.

"Oh _believe me _I would," he drew out his words with a sarcastic edge to match hers, "But he happens to have a girlfriend who is probably too good for him. And trust me when I tell you their PDA is disgusting."

Maka scoffed, "Tell me about it. My friend and her idiotic boyfriend are always like that. Personally, doing crap like that in public is repulsive. Hiro and I never did. Well… okay _maybe _it was because we didn't really love each other or whatever but if we did I'd be smart enough to keep my tongue in my mouth when out in public. Ugh."

Soul shrugged and sported a grin, "I dunno, Maka. You looked like you had your tongue out and slobbering when you saw those chicken nuggets."

She made a pouty face and crossed her arms, "Excuse me but I haven't had fast food since I was little. This is like a dream come true for me."

He wiped a fake tear from under his eye, "So this really is the most special day of your life. Treasure it forever."

"Did anyone ever tell you that you're an ass?"

He considered that, and to be truthful the only one who ever called him an ass was Black Star, who, himself, was a major ass-hat.

"Yeah. I admit it though. There's nothing wrong with being a total jerk sometimes. It makes the leather look cooler on me," he sniffed haughtily as he straightened out his black jacket.

Maka let out a short and harsh laugh, raising an eyebrow at his statement. "So are you one of those guys that think they have the whole 'cool guy' routine down? 'Cause I can totally tell you're not one of those people."

"Oh really?"

"Really. In fact, I think I could pin just about exactly what kind of a guy you are."

Amused, Soul flashed his unusually sharp teeth and crossed his arms, "Alright, shoot."

Maka tapped her chin thoughtfully and sharpened her gaze on him as if she were scrutinizing every last detail about him. She swished her mouth back and forth before finally nodding when she came to her final conclusion.

"I'd say that you're some guy who had big dreams that in hindsight you realize were kind of unrealistic. Maybe you wanted to be an actor or a big musician in a band and it quickly fell through. Now you work a crappy job where you work your butt off for minimum wage but you don't care enough to complain. Your parents are well-off but you're too proud to ask for any money and probably have some sort of inferiority complex with a sibling or cousin that causes you to detach yourself and not get too close to anyone. You're probably pretty sloppy and you don't cook any of your meals. I bet you also die your hair and wear contacts because you think this whole vampire-shark look is nice on you."

Baffled, Soul could only manage to shake his head in complete wonder. Apparently this girl was more capable of playing this guessing game than he originally assumed. Just one thing-

"The hair and eyes are natural. Some weird recessive thing in my family that skips a lot of generations."

Maka's eyes widened at that and she reached forward and grabbed a fistful of his hair without warning, causing him to squawk awkwardly and try to push her hands off of him. She refused, keeping her grip on his hair in place and examined the snow-white locks with awe.

"It's so pretty though! You're lucky, you have some weird exotic look most girls would kill to have."

He rolled his eyes and this time succeeded in getting her hands off his head.

"Good to know that I'd make the cover of Elle but I'd rather you not touch me, thanks."

Maka smirked and leaned back once more. "See," she said with a teasing tone, "You don't like people getting close to you physically, and I would assume same goes emotionally as well."

"What, did you take some intro to psych class in high school or something?" He muttered with a sneer. She was dissecting his every trait, and he didn't know if he was more pissed off at how cocky she was getting or about how right she was with what she said.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," she bit her lip to hold back a laugh and played with the fabric on the lap of her dress, "but you make it kind of easy. You're such a cliché city boy!"

"Am not!"

"Oh come on; you have the leather jacket and the cold exterior thing going on. You probably live in some rinky-dink apartment where you sulk in your pretty-boy emotions and complain about how misunderstood you are."

"That's so not true! I rarely feel sorry for myself. In fact, I'm the least cliché person I know!"

She pursed her lips and rolled her green eyes dramatically, probably attempting to get on his nerves.

It was working.

"From what it sounds like you're the _only _person you know, other than this one friend of yours."

Soul shrugged, "I don't really have much spare time to meet people."

"You should try making friends some time. You'd be amazed at how much fun it can be."

Soul didn't bother to answer and instead finished the final bite of his last burrito. It tasted like everything unhealthy and everything he enjoyed, and he realized that Maka was right, he never really cooked his own meals. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had anything that wasn't fast food. It must be nice to have the ability to actually make meals and eat them in the comfort of one's home, but he didn't really have any opportunity to learn either. It was either that or he didn't really want to learn and either way he knew that spaghetti and meatballs with Italian bread wasn't going to be something he'd see anytime soon, as nice as it sounded.

"So-uh, you're done?"

Soul nodded, noticing that she seemed to have stopped picking at her food. That's when he noticed why she was acting so skittish. He didn't really know the proper social protocol for this kind of a situation.

Did they say 'bye' and part ways or whatever? Did she want him to walk her home? (Although he was concerned that something along those lines implied something else)

Did he say 'see ya' even though he knew he'd probably never see this girl again in his life?

He didn't have any idea so he settled for waiting for Maka to do something, as rude as that seemed of him. Eventually she sighed and slipped out of the booth to stand up.

"Uh, thanks for hearing me rant. And for introducing me to the wonderful world of fast food."

"No problem," Soul shook his hand in the air, "fast food is what I do best. Good luck with your fiancée- friend- enemy dude and getting your life in order and stuff."

She gave him a pissed off look but it was evident that she found humor in his words. "Gee, thanks Soul. I'll get right on doing that," she paused, "Bye then I guess."

She gave him a little two-finger salute and headed out the door, causing heads to immediately turn the moment she stepped outside on the sidewalk. Of course, it wasn't every day that someone sees a girl in a wedding dress exit the local McDonald's. Soul tossed out his garbage and headed out the door behind her, watching from a short distance how she wandered aimlessly and without any goal in mind. Once again that good-guy-Soul in the back of his head scolded him, telling him how improper it was to let a girl wander alone with no place to go.

But it wasn't like he could do anything to help her without coming across as a creep which he _really _didn't want to come across as. Sure, she was absolutely screwed but if he did anything to help her he would probably start to bother her. With a groan, he decided that if he was really bothering her then she'd tell him, and that it was better if he made sure she had plans for where she was staying than to assume that she'd figure something out.

"Hey, Maka!" he called out, just barely loud enough for her to hear. She turned her head around slightly, surprise written subtlety across her face. She stopped and waited for him to catch up to where she was standing.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you knew where you were heading. Or where you're staying."

_Or what the hell you're gonna do with your life, _he added mentally. That was absolutely no business of his, however, so he kept that one to himself.

"I'm probably just going to go to the bank and buy some clothes and rent a motel room or whatever. If I stay at Shibusen I'm sure Kid would rat me out to my parents."

Soul was about to ask what the hell kind of a name 'Kid' was but remembered that his own parents came up with his name when they were drunk and decided to stick with it after she got pregnant and that his best friend was named Blackstar. He had no room to talk. But if this 'Kid' dude was even slightly likely to rat Maka out, even if out of concern for her wellbeing, he knew that Maka wasn't going to take the risk. And if a cheap and unsafe motel was the only affordable option for her…

"I know this is completely uncool and shady but if you don't have the money to get a room you're more than welcome to crash at my place until you figure things out."

Maka's eyes widened in surprise but they quickly narrowed as she eyed him suspiciously.

He rolled his eyes and sighed, "Come on, I'm not gonna try to pull any creepy shit on you."

She shrugged, "You know how serial killers work these days. One second you invite me into your house for some coffee and the next second there's a scythe in my back."

"Scythe? What a lame weapon. I'd totally use something cooler."

Maka gave him a deranged look.

"Well, if I actually _was _a murderer and all. Which I'm not. I swear."

Maka fidgeted with her hands before biting her lip and meeting his eyes. "Are you sure that would be okay though?"

He could tell that the idea seemed appealing to her, as it should. It was free, easy, and left her without worrying. Not to mention that he could tell she liked being with someone and probably didn't fancy being alone, unlike himself. He could get over a lack of privacy for a while if it meant he could help someone out if they were in need of assistance.

"Of course, cool guys don't leave girls alone on the streets. And I'm a cool guy." He crossed his arms and turned his head to the side haughtily with his eyes closed. Maka giggled and nodded.

"Then I'll take you up on that offer as long as you're _sure _you don't mind."

"'Course not. If anything I should be the one warning _you. _I'm a little messy-"

* * *

"A _little _messy? Soul this is absolutely disgusting. How do you even live in this dump?"

Maka kicked aside an old throw pillow he had laying on the floor only to accidentally step on an empty Burger King bag. With a drawn-out groan, the frustrated girl decided to give up on trying to avoid the mess and instead stepped through it, making sure she only treaded on what could certainly be described as useless junk.

"Clean much?"

Soul frowned slightly, "Hey, I'm letting you crash here, no need to insult me. Besides, if I ever need something, I wouldn't have thrown it away like anyone else would have. It's called being prepared."

"It's called being lazy, and you seriously need to stop. This could be hazardous to your health!"

"Listen, Maka, I've been eating nothing but fast food for the past-like-three years or something and I look the exact same as when I left home so don't even try to say that I'm not immune to anything unhealthy."

She scoffed, "You're gonna regret saying that. One day you'll wake up and be three times your weight from all that McDonald's and you'll find out you have a family of rats living under your bed. There's a difference between being a typical young guy and living a completely unhealthy lifestyle and you definitely crossed that line."

"Well excuse me for not caring what other people think. It's not like anyone's visited in a while."

"I'm visiting now and I say this is gross."

Soul lifted and dropped his shoulders carelessly and walked over to the fridge, not even caring what he stepped on along the way there. He opened the door and pulled out two water bottles, tossing one of them to Maka. She caught it with surprising grace and opened it up a second later to take a dainty sip.

Soul noticed that about Maka. She was always trying to do things softly, quietly, daintily, and in a way she probably saw as refined and polite. For someone like him, it almost seemed to be done mockingly. He knew she wasn't doing it on purpose but the way she was acting almost made it appear as it she was looking down on him.

In all honesty she probably just thought his apartment looked messy, which it definitely did.

"Uh," Soul looked from left to right awkwardly, not sure of what to do in this kind of situation. It had been a while since he had a girl over- scratch that- it had been a while since he had anyone other than Black Star over and he wasn't sure what to make of the situation. She seemed perfectly fine despite the mess, but he felt as though doing nothing wasn't very 'host'-ly of him.

"So Maka, what do you do for a living?" he asked. He really only wanted to refrain from any awkward silences occurring, but he also was a bit curious.

She looked directly into his crimson eyes and frowned. It was too late by the time Soul realized he said something wrong.

"I _was _an accountant at a nearby building but our branch was shut down due to budget cuts. Hiro's parents told me not to bother with getting another job since I'd be a 'housewife' after we got married."

"You don't seem like the housewife type…"

Maka scoffed, "I wasn't really the accountant type either. I just don't really know what I want to do with my life and it's already too late to start anew. What about you, Soul? What do you do?"

He stuck his tongue out at nothing and shook his head, "It's not much more interesting, I can tell you that. Originally I pitched ad ideas and movies but after I couldn't get any takers on one idea I had the company told me to get lost until I sold it. And of course no one wants it. So now I slave away at Joe's Coffee for minimum wage and live off of fast food like an animal." After his little rant, Soul took a deep breath and slumped down, relaxing his posture.

"Okay, you win by just a hair," she admitted, turning to look around for a place to sit.

He grinned sloppily, "Living the dream."

Maka walked over to the couch and shoved a bunch of old newspapers, shoes, and CDs over to make a suitable seating place. She sipped from the water and reclined against the back cushion.

"You'd have a really cute apartment if it wasn't so messy."

Soul shrugged "And you'd have a really cute face if it wasn't tear-stained and scowling."

Maka blushed a crimson color and searched left to right looking for something, her scowl deepening.

"What are you doing?" Soul asked as she started tearing through the items around her in search of whatever it was she was looking for.

"Aha!" she shouted in victory, "MAKA-CHOP!"

Before Soul even knew what was coming his old hard-cover copy of Lord of the Flies was making painful contact with his skull.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" He rubbed his head where the book had nearly split it and cringed at the extra pain brought by nursing the injury.

She sighed and shook her head as if he had just asked the stupidest question.

"If you say something that is mean or embarrasses me you get Maka-chopped. No exceptions."

"Ugh," the pain stung, but Soul knew he'd get over it. "Whatever. I'll just go get you something to wear and you can just… sit there and try not to 'chop' anything else."

Soul wandered off towards a door on the opposite side of the apartment and left Maka sitting there with the book in her hand. She carefully placed it on the coffee table, knowing fully well that there was a good chance she'd read it later if there was nothing better to do. She probably wouldn't be staying at his place too long, just long enough to get a plan together. She was scared and not really used to being on her own. She was independent, sure, but she always had a second opinion to go off of and at the moment the only other person with her wasn't too trustworthy for advice seeing as his entire life seemed to be on the very verge of breaking.

Maka looked around the apartment. It was pretty basic; a small kitchen with no table but a counter top that wrapped around the side of the kitchen that was next to the living room with three stools pressed up against it, one couch and coffee table in a small living room with a decent-sized television (the only thing that he seemed to spend any decent amount of money on), a couple doors that led to different rooms, and a lot of junk littering the whole place. He probably didn't pay much for rent, but she had a feeling that he was too blind to see that the insane amount of fast food he was consuming probably put a hefty dent in his wallet. There were tons of burger wrappers, cups, and crispy fry crumbs everywhere and she couldn't help but wonder how long it had been since he ate anything that wasn't off a dollar menu.

"Hey Soul!" she called in the direction he went off to.

"Yeah?" He opened the door that led to the room he was in and walked out into the living room. He tossed her a pair of sweatpants and a shirt that was probably a few sizes too big for her.

"When did you last have a meal you made at home?"

Soul tapped his chin in thought, "I think I tried making chicken once but it caught on fire so I ordered a pizza. Other than that I guess it's been since I lived at home."

Maka's eyes widened, "Didn't you say that was three years ago?" He nodded and crossed his arms. "You need to stop that," she said breathlessly, "or you're seriously going to face the consequences."

Soul didn't seem too interested in what she was saying because he was preoccupied making his way to the kitchen counter to pick up a bag that was on it. Maka growled, internally infuriated by his lack of organization.

"Listen," he sighed heavily, "I hate to leave you here since you're still in your mourning period but today's my day off from work so I was going to go pitch that movie idea to a guy that's in town. Can't miss the opportunity, you know?"

Maka nodded, "Sure, I understand. You're leaving then? You trust me not to steal everything in the apartment and make a run for it?"

Soul laughed at that, but shook his head, "Good luck finding anything other than the TV that's worth something," he took the bag he got off the counter and pulled nicer-looking clothes from it, miraculously only having a few wrinkles, "I'll be back at like six so try to occupy yourself until then. There's leftover pizza in the fridge for you to eat at your own risk… I don't remember how old it is."

Maka shivered at the thought.

"Alright, I'll be back," he called as he opened the door and walked out, closing it behind him.

_Well that was fast, _she thought. Maka had a feeling that Soul was the type of person who did things in the spur of the moment and without thinking ahead. One minute he was talking to her and the next he was out the door. From the start, Maka had her suspicions that he was a cold and isolated person, but now she was seeing just how bad the extent of it was.

She looked down at the clothes he gave her to wear. They didn't look too worn and if she had to take a guess she'd say that they were barely used. It was nice that he even thought to give her a change of clothes.

She stood up and walked over to a door that was open and appeared to lead into a medium-sized bathroom. Even though no one else was home she decided to be safe and lock the door behind her; she was changing, after all, and modesty never hurt.

Now, all that was left to do was figure out what to do with herself for the next couple of hours…

* * *

Soul bit back his frown and rubbed his sore neck as he walked up the steps to his floor.

It hadn't gone well.

The guy he was pitching the idea to seemed semi-interested at first but as soon as Soul started tossing out his ideas the man lost all interest and told Soul that it was a decent idea but it just wasn't an idea that will have an impact in the theaters. Soul wasn't even surprised when he was shot down, he was only disappointed.

If he didn't get that stupid idea to take off then he'd never get his old job back and he'd be a barista for the rest of his life and he _hated _that. It wasn't that it was a bad job it just didn't fit him. But it was something he was just going to have to do if he couldn't pull himself together.

As he approached the door to his apartment Soul wondered if Maka had found anything fun to do. Other than watch TV there really wasn't much she could have found to do without scourging the room for a deck of cards or a crossword puzzle book. Even then Soul couldn't remember where he put those long-lost possessions of his.

He was somewhat relieved to find that the door was locked. He had forgotten to tell Maka that she should lock it behind him and he knew that although this particular apartment building was nice enough, there were some really bad people in the areas surrounding it. Luckily she was a smart girl and took it upon herself to lock the door, so Soul didn't have to feel too guilty.

Once the door opened, the first thing Soul noticed was the smell.

It differed greatly from smell of stale pizza and sweat he was used to walking into. No, instead of that he was greeted by the aroma of fabric cleaner and pasta. It was a weird combination, for sure, but it was something he didn't find to be as incompatible as he would have originally thought. In fact the two scents blended quite well together.

Soul took a step into his apartment and in one single moment he realized that there wasn't one thing about his apartment that was the same as when he left; and he even for a moment wondered if he walked into the wrong apartment by accident.

The apartment was flawless. The surfaces were all dusted and the floors were swept and vacuumed and nothing was out of place. He didn't even know where all of his junk went but somehow the apartment seemed so much bigger without all of his belongings cluttering it. Save for a few picture frames and books that were neatly placed on the coffee table and side tables, there was nothing else adorning the furniture in his living room.

In the kitchen everything was spotless and clean as well except for what he soon discovered was the source of the delectable pasta smell.

Maka was standing by the stove where she appeared to be putting finishing touches on two big plates of spaghetti.

She must have felt his presence or heard the door open because she turned around and smiled sheepishly at him, "I got a little bored," she shrugged with an awkward chuckle.

"So you cleaned the entire apartment?!"

"Mhm. I guess after I read your Lord of the Flies copy I realized that if you lack civilization any longer only tragedy will come. So I found where you stashed your cleaning supplies and went wild. I hope you don't mind but I tossed anything that was garbage- you know, like your plethora of fast food bags and gum wrappers that I seemed to find literally everywhere."

Soul was too awestruck to say anything. He looked around at the floor that he felt he hadn't laid eyes on since he first bought the apartment.

"You're insane, and I can't thank you enough for that."

She gave him a little thumbs-up before turning back to the dishes of spaghetti.

"W-what's that?" he asked curiously as he peeked over her shoulder at the food. He didn't mean to sound like a little school girl admiring senpai from afar but after not smelling pasta or being so close to it in a couple of years he couldn't help himself. He appreciated food and _that _looked delicious.

"Well I felt bad that I'm imposing on your man-lair so I decided to make you a nice dinner. Y'know, since you apparently only eat fast food I figured this would be a breath of fresh air." She brushed a few stray hairs from her bangs out of the way of her eyes to clearly examine the plates one last time before triumphantly putting her hands on her hips, "Done!"

Soul shook his head in bewilderment, "Are you telling me that you not only cleaned my entire apartment but you made a home-cooked meal too?"

She nodded, "It's the least I can do. Don't worry; I didn't steal your money. I went to the store and paid for it with whatever was left from my gift card. Lucky for us I didn't need the actual card but I only have like seven dollars left on it. Sucks to be me."

She turned around and smiled genuinely for what seemed to be the first time that day, "You hungry?"

He placed both of his hands on her shoulders and shook her dramatically back and forth, "Praise you!"

He released her and she put a hand to her head from the dizziness, "Jeez, you must really like pasta."

* * *

Soul sighed as he turned off the lights to the living room. Maka had fallen asleep on the couch while he was taking a shower and he was kind of relieved. He would have offered her to sleep in his bed and he'd take the couch (he was raised as a gentleman, after all) but he had a feeling Maka would find that to be sexist or something and insist on taking the couch.

That was one thing he learned about her over the course of their dinner conversation; she didn't like being treated as anything less or more than anyone else.

Since she was already asleep he didn't have to deal with the awkwardness that would ensue had he decided to offer her the room. Instead, he tossed two extra blankets from the linen closet over her and adjusted the pillow from the uncomfortable position her head seemed to be in. At least now she'd be able to sleep warm and without a pain in her neck when she woke up.

He made sure the door was locked and all the lights were off before heading into his room. He let out a long sigh and ran his hand through his hair in exasperation. She cleaned his bedroom, too. He wasn't even surprised seeing as she cleaned every nook and cranny of the apartment. He was still amazed she managed to do it in the few hours he was at the meeting.

Maka was really something else.

Soul flopped back against his bed and put an arm behind his head, adjusting himself into a comfortable position. If that girl continued to cook like she had that night then Soul could actually get used to her crashing at his place. That pasta was the best thing he'd had in what felt like forever and it was well worth the wait. She even made garlic bread, _garlic bread. _With a full tummy and a fresh and clean apartment Soul somehow didn't even care about his failed pitch earlier on. He felt content and rejuvenated and he was thankful for the part Maka took in making that happen.

From their conversations he could tell she was a lot different than the crying girl he found on the stairs to the Shibusen Hotel that morning. She was a lot more vivid of a character than he had originally assumed, and she was more fun to be around than he cared to admit; Soul even found himself laughing more in the past day than he had in the three years he lived on his own. He wouldn't be completely opposed to letting Maka stay as long as she wanted... for the delicious food she made and the clean apartment, of course.

That's what he told himself.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for reading! **

* * *

Chapter 3:Hiding Under Beds

Soul woke up to the sound of footsteps outside of his bedroom door and panicked, grabbing a pillow just in case he needed it for means of self-defense; some damage that would do but oh well, he'd work with what he had.

"Uh, Soul?" A knock sounded at his door following the softly spoken words.

_Oh right, _he reminded himself, _I almost forgot she was here._

Soul sighed in relief, thankful that there wasn't an intruder in his apartment. He may have been decently strong enough to fight off a robber or something but at this early of an hour in the morning he would get his ass handed to him. Soul wasn't exactly an early riser.

"Coming," he answered Maka drowsily. He flung his legs off the bed dramatically and onto the floor one at a time and mustered all of his energy to stand up. With a little stretch and contented sigh he walked over to the door and opened it slowly, still partially wondering if it was safe to come out without his pillow-weapon in hand.

Maka was still wearing the old clothes he lent her the day before but instead of her pigtails being curled and hanging lowly like they were when she was in her wedding dress, her bangs were tousled and the curl was starting to lose itself. With the straight pigtails pulled up on the sides of her head Maka appeared even more juvenile than he had originally thought. If he hadn't spent all of last night talking to her and discovering that she was a highly intellectual woman, he'd probably assume she was a couple years younger than she actually was.

"What time is it?" he yawned while rubbing his eyes, "And why do you look like an anime Lolita character?"

Maka rolled her eyes, "Desu desu, bitch. Now wake up I made pancakes."

Soul let out a quick laugh, impressed that she was so quick-witted. Still, her personality was the second coolest thing about her. The coolest was her cooking. And pancakes happened to be a personal favorite of his.

"Pancakes?" he questioned, his eyes filling with a hopeful sparkle.

She nodded, "I made a few with chocolate chips too; I didn't know how you liked them. Also I cut up some strawberries. It's important to make sure you get some fruits in your system first thing in the morning."

Soul nodded, "Seems reasonable. As long as I get pancakes I don't care what else you shove down my gullet."

He brushed past her and walked cautiously over into the kitchen. On the counter he spotted the pancakes and nearly wept with joy as the aroma filled his nostrils. Taking a large whiff of them for good measure, h recalled when he was young and his older brother Wes used to bug their mom until she made pancakes. They always tasted good… always tasted like Sunday mornings and happy times.

Suddenly he didn't feel too hungry anymore.

Maka must have noticed the weird face he was making because soon he felt a small hand on his shoulder, "What's wrong? You seem a little weirded out… do you have a phobia of chocolate chips or something?"

He shook his head, "It's nothing- I just remembered I have work today."

She raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "You told me you did last night. It shouldn't surprise you."

He shrugged, "I'm forgetful. C'mon, let's eat before I have to go. What are you gonna do today anyway? You've already cleaned my apartment and I doubt there's much you can find here to occupy yourself."

"I'll figure something out," she answered, waving him off casually, "I mean you have a lot of books that I'm assuming have never been read. It's about time, I'd say."

Soul looked offended but shrugged off her implication. He couldn't deny it; he'd never read any of the books he took from home when he left. They were gifts from his father when he was young and just never got around to reading them. It seemed rude to leave them at home; after all, he kind of left home rather abruptly and didn't want to upset his parents any more than he already had.

"Then go for it," he urged, glad that at least someone could make good use of the hardcovers. He knew that if anyone would appreciate the books it would be Maka. Over dinner last night there was very little that Maka seemed extremely passionate about in conversation but one thing that kept reoccurring was her love of literature. She would constantly bring up what she'd read, and he had to nod along because he wasn't the biggest bookworm and had very little idea what she was talking about half the time. It was the same when he talked about music, he could tell. Maka would nod politely, having something of an idea what he was talking about, but not fully embracing it like he was.

One thing he was very interested in concerning last night's conversation was her imagination. As someone whose old job used to be thinking up ideas and pitching them to different movie or television organizations, he took a great deal of interest in her words whenever she went off an fantasy tangents. She loved fiction and fantasy; that much he could easily tell.

This morning was a little different from last night, though. Instead of discussing adventure and mythical creatures (which they both agreed were extremely awesome) she was interrogating him about his "scandalous backstory" as she called it.

"So you won't tell me where you're from, then?"

He shook his head, munching on a chocolate chip pancake and savoring the sweet taste of it.

"What about your family?"

He shrugged, "It's not like we don't talk from time to time."

"So why did you leave home?"

"I wanted a change in scenery."

"Do you have any siblings?"

Soul frowned, "Yeah."

"How many?"

With a heavy and clearly exaggerated sigh, Soul stood up and brought his plate over to the sink where he started to run water over it. It didn't take a genius to tell that Maka's persistent questioning was making him uncomfortable. She just realized that fact a little too late.

Biting her lip, she walked over to the sink and pushed his hands out of the way, "I'll wash the dishes," she mumbled, a guilt-ridden look plastered across her face. "Just go get ready for work. You're gonna be late."

"How would you know when I have work?" he asked, eyeing her askance.

She pointed to the calendar he had taped to the wall from last year and pushed him away from the sink.

"You worked every Monday last year at ten a.m. sharp, and I'm taking a stab at it that not much has changed. You really need to update your calendar."

Soul glanced at the wall to realize that she was correct; he had 'work at 10' scribbled under every Monday, with other days and other dates less consistent. He frowned when a thought popped into his head, "Why didn't you toss the calendar when you cleaned everything. It's old and useless now."

"It helps me predict what you'll be doing," Maka shrugged as she rinsed a fork. Soul noticed how natural she was with cleaning and cooking and wondered if she ever left the house much besides for work. From their conversations, Soul gathered that she was similar to him- she had very few friends and didn't get out much. He felt bad and made a mental note that if she was around much longer he would take her to do something fun in the city.

_Not _as a date, of course. They could both just use the fresh air.

"Well then I guess I'll get going or whatever. Don't burn the place down while I'm gone."

"I'll try not to."

* * *

It didn't take long before she became insanely bored and decided to get something done that she had been fearing since two days ago after she skipped on her wedding. Or, to be more accurate, she left after her hubby-to-be ditched her.

The apartment she shared with Hiro was about thirty feet away from the plant she was hiding behind, and the only person to spot her was little old Mrs. Greene from down the hall who seemed confused at first as to why Maka was crouching behind a decorative plant. Luckily, Mrs. Greene had always been a sweet old lady and gave Maka a curious but abiding nod when Maka pressed a finger to her lips.

Ten minutes later Maka saw the apartment door down the hall open and close, and Hiro walked out and towards the stairwell. Now was her chance.

Maka scurried towards the door as soon as the coast was clear and rummaged through the fake plant that was next to it until she found the spare key they always kept in the cliché hiding spot. Wasting no time, she fumbled with the lock until it clicked open and burst into the apartment, scanning her surroundings quickly and was for some reason surprised with how little had changed in the time since she left. It made sense, nothing there was really a reminder of them that he'd want to rid of. It was an apartment they shared but it wasn't _their _apartment. Besides, she was sure Hiro felt at least a little guilty and probably didn't think that changing things would be a good idea.

She made her way to her bedroom and took a look around to see that, thankfully, he hadn't touched anything in there.

All she needed were a few things. She grabbed a bag and prayed to the heavens that he wouldn't notice anything missing. She grabbed her cell phone, charger, money, credit card, laptop, a couple of her favorite books, and anything else she thought she'd need. It was only for a few days until things died down and she figured out where to stay for cheap rent on her own. Then she'd confront him and get her stuff and make peace with this whole fiasco.

She sighed to herself as she raided her room. Living with Tsubaki really would have been preferable but her dark-haired friend was practically living with Black Star at this point. She knew that Kid would be more than willing to let her stay at a room in the hotel without charge, just like he let Liz and Patti do, but she really worried about Kid informing her parents… or worse- Hiro's family and therefore Hiro.

If there was one thing Maka Albarn hated though it was a burden and she didn't want to become one in any way, shape, or form. In fact, she thought it'd be best if she left Soul's place as soon as possible. She had taken this week off on a paid vacation for her honeymoon but she supposed now it was just a regular old week off of work. Not that she was complaining; it gave her time to get her life together.

Just as she was about to exit her old room the door to the apartment opened and she froze. He probably forgot something and had to come back.

In other words: she was screwed.

With panic she heard him walking towards her room and did the only logical thing she could think of and flew under the bed in a complete act of fear. He walked into her room for some _weird reason _and stopped.

_This is it, _she thought, _I'm totally found out! I'm so dead!_

Hiro stood in the door frame for a moment before walking across her room and past the bed. Maka held on to every breath and kept quiet. He left! She had no idea how he knew someone was in the apartment and prayed to whoever was listening that he'd just give up and leave.

"Ah! There you are!"

Maka's eyes widened and she covered her mouth in a panic. She was about to blurt out some excuse before Hiro added to his statement.

"I've been looking everywhere for this tie!"

And that was it. Hiro left a damn tie in her room for some weird reason a couple of weeks ago and they both forgot about it. Apparently it was imperative to whatever meeting he had that day or for whatever he was leaving for. He took the tie and fastened it around his neck.

"I can't believe I almost forgot it," he mumbled as he left the room. About a half a minute later Maka heard the door close and she let out a deep gasp for air after holding in heavier breathing for so long. She rolled out from under the stuffy bed and made her way to the front door with caution.

She managed to sneak out rather easily after the incident and made sure she locked the door behind her, careful that she didn't leave a trace of her presence. She'd have a while until Soul got back from work, so she'd kill some time by snooping around. Sure, she felt a bit guilty, but the fun would be worth it.

* * *

Soul trudged through the door at seven pm after working a particularly long and busy shift. Between teenagers who wanted 'chai mocha skinny lattes' and businessmen who seemed to be in a rush to get their coffee, he had it with people's attitudes today.

When he got home, the first thing he did was flop onto his couch dramatically and sigh into the cushions. The shower was running so he assumed (or at least hoped) it was Maka and not some intruder. He didn't mind having someone around or whatever but for the past two days the apartment smelt like strawberries and cream and he didn't know how to feel about that.

He rolled over to his side and glanced at the papers Maka left on the coffee table. With a frown, he noted that they were rather similar to his papers that he used to jot his pitch ideas on. The same lime green paper he used for heavens knows what reason.

He rolled off the couch until he reached a sitting position on the floor and wondered if she had been looking over the one idea he had been trying to sell for the longest time. He was stubborn for not just letting the one idea go but for some reason he knew it was a winner. In a way he was kind of embarrassed that she had looked it over despite the fact he had been describing it in depth to dozens of big corporate people with a lot more say in his career than some twenty-something year old accountant that was dumped at the altar.

He looked once again at the papers and widened his eyes when he realized there was a page next to those- the _same lime green- _filled with notes on his idea. She took freaking _notes _on it and from what Soul could observe they were in great detail.

The shower stopped in the bathroom and he froze. She probably would take a while in the bathroom doing her girly crap or whatever with her hair and face so he decided to take a quick look at what she thought about his ideas.

She had written 'originality' and underlined it three times. Next to that, she wrote 'personification of the weapons good idea but not enough life- human form'. The notes were all short and choppy like that but somehow he understood exactly what Maka was trying to get across.

His original idea was a universe with students at a school where they used weapons that had thoughts and emotions they could voice as the students hunted demon-like creatures and captured their souls. The 'originality' that all the people he pitched the idea to said he lacked… she managed to find it so simply.

Make the weapons more personified by giving them human forms. Genius. Simple yet genius.

In this way the story become completely its own and could have so much potential. If the weapons weren't _like_ people but actually _were _people.

He hopped up in excitement and, admittedly without much thought, ran over to the bathroom in eagerness and threw the door open (did she even know how to lock it?)

"You're a genius!" he exclaimed, not even noticing the fact she was wearing just a towel.

"Eek! What the hell, get out of here!" She screeched and turned away, her entire face becoming red as she waved her hand at him in a 'shoo' motion in an attempt to make him leave.

"But you're totally right about the originality!"

"Wha- look, I'm not really fully dressed and you need to get ou-"

"Your idea is so good it would totally sell first shot! You need to branch off on it and tell me everything you think would help it. Are there limits to the personification of the weapons?"

Maka, enraged by her new lack of privacy, picked up the closest object to her- that happened to be a wooden hairbrush- and chucked it at Soul as hard as she could. It hit him directly in the stomach and he let out an 'ooph' before nodding in understanding as he hunched over in pain.

"Got it, a girl needs her privacy," he forced out through his teeth that were clenched in pain.

A moment of silence passed, followed by another. And another. And another.

"Why aren't you gone yet?" Maka gritted out as she turned away further, trying to maintain her modesty.

Soul blinked as if coming out of a trance, "Just admiring the lovely view," he winked before backing out of the door and closing it right before a shampoo bottle thrown by the blond-devil hit it.

He thought about what Maka's notes were implying… a school with weapons and people who wielded them and fought evil. But the thing that made it special was that the weapons had not only human characteristics but were actually humans? Pretty awesome.

And he was going to force her to talk more about it after she finished getting ready and changing into something more covering… although he wouldn't mind if she didn't bother.

Maka was sitting on the couch with her arms crossed and a defiant pout on her face.

"Look, I said I was sorry."

"And I said that your comment was unwarranted."

Soul sighed and ran a hand through his white locks. She was a pain to talk to, but he needed to have her finish whatever she was writing on his pitch. If she didn't tell him soon he was afraid she would forget.

"Please tell meeee?" Soul begged, fashioning his best puppy eyes. He wasn't a guy who begged for much; he usually just was complacent with what he had, but in this case he needed to do a little groveling.

"As soon as I get an apology."

"I'm sorry for walking in without knocking and seeing you in a towel, are we fucking done with this yet?"

"A _sincere _apology."

Soul sighed heavily. "I'm sorry." He decided leaving it at that was best and stared at her to see if those two simple words tickled her fancy and satisfied her high-maintenance ways.

She smiled, "Accepted." Soul rolled his eyes at her sudden change in attitude.

"Now," he continued, "what do you mean by having the weapons personified?"

"What do you mean what do I mean?"

"Like are they weapons that can be people or people that can be weapons?"

She shrugged and tapped her chin, "I suppose it doesn't matter. In this world I guess it wouldn't be that crazy, almost like a recessive gene."

Soul shook his head, wondering why such a creative mind was wasting away as an accountant or whatever it was she did for a living.

He knew one thing for certain, boring jobs were fine and all- but they just didn't satisfy some people. Someone like his mom or dad or brother could have a boring job and be glad they had lots of money. In his father's case that's exactly what happened. Soul, on the other hand, could never live with himself if he had a desk job or something. He _detested _not using creative thinking. Of course that left him with a shabby apartment and working at a coffee place as he tried desperately to get a career back, but he was happy with his life nonetheless. In Maka's eyes he saw the same twinkle he had whenever he got excited over imagination. In her large forest green eyes though, that spark of imagination was somehow beautiful and he would do anything to make sure he saw it again.

"Hey Maka," Soul asked as she glanced over with the look still simmering within her eyes, "Would you like to help me pitch a movie idea?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Heyhey. Just dropping off a new chapter. I'll probably be updating more frequently as school comes to an end for the year. I refuse to let any story go unfinished, so I'll stick this out until the end. **

* * *

Chapter 4: Visitors 

"Are you sure he's going to approve of me?"

A tall and curvy woman with long black hair tied back in a ponytail adjusted her dress shirt and nervously twirled the end of her hair. She was worried, that much was obvious from her contorted features and the very much so evident look of fear plaguing her eyes.

Her companion, who was barely taller than she was, shook his head, "You're looking _way _too much into this babe."

The girl made a frustrated sound, "But he's your best friend! I've only seen him in large groups of people... this is the first time I'm meeting him personally."

"Tsubaki trust me, it doesn't take much to be cool with Soul. Just don't mention his family or the eyes or hair... or his job... or how messy his apartment is... or his love life... or how he doesn't have a future... or-"

"Blackstar you said this would be easy!"

"It will be! He won't get pissed at you or anything if you mention any of that. He'll just get all mopey. It happens all the time, don't sweat it."

"Here, this one is his apartment. Remember, it's just a quick dinner for my best friend and girlfriend to meet and get to know each other. You're worrying too much."

Tsubaki bit her lip anxiously and examined the door to Soul's apartment. She had seen him from afar before and he wasn't the warmest looking person. Apparently there was some recessive gene in his family that caused him to have white hair and red eyes; that scared Tsubaki more than her best friend Maka's other friend Kid who also looked weird. At least that Kid fellow was polite and successful, the kind of person Tsubaki could mingle well with. Messy white-haired loners with backstory issues were a little more unnerving.

But she had to do it for Blackstar.

Blackstar knocked on the door three precise times and shoved his hands in his blue sweatshirt. Just as footsteps began shuffling towards the door, Blackstar leaned over and whispered quickly in a quiet voice-

"Bythewayhehasnoideawe'recominghahasorry-"

Tsubaki's eyes widened the moment she realized what her boyfriend was saying but by then it was too late and the door was opened to reveal the red-eyed man himself. Tsubaki was too busy gawking at Blackstar's confession to care though; the idiot had told her they were invited!

"Uh, hey?" Soul looked confused, but not angered. That was a good sign, she supposed.

"Hey man, I thought it was about time you met the lady properly," Blackstar pat his friend on the shoulder and grinned idiotically, "so how about lunch?"

Soul looked between Tsubaki and Blackstar with that same monotonous air he always gave off and shrugged, "Whatever. Oh that reminds me-" Soul turned around and appeared to be meeting eyes with someone, "Hey Ma- wha- uhhh," he turned back to Blackstar and Tsubaki looking a little puzzled, "ma-ma-mandarin oranges are yummy but I think I have cold cuts. Is that cool?"

"Sounds delicious!" Blackstar said and burst through the door.

"Hey wai-" Soul jumped on Blackstar's back in an attempt to stop him from entering. Confused, Blackstar pushed him off effortlessly.

"Bro what's your problem?"

Soul looked around the room, and once he seemed content with what was- or _wasn't _there, he relaxed a bit.

"Oh, I see..." Blackstar said in a sly voice.

Soul's eyes widened, "What do you see?"

"You're embarrassed 'cause for once you cleaned up your apartment and now you feel as though you've lost your masculinity. Don't worry Soul, you can't lose what you never had to begin with."

If Tsubaki wasn't absolutely sure it was a crazy notion, she would have sworn she heard an abrupt snort from somewhere in the room.

Odd...

* * *

Maka hadn't thought things through. In hindsight, she and Soul had been completely dumb not to piece it together. He talked about his loud and annoying friend who was too into this new girl he was dating that was super sweet.

She talked about her kind-hearted bestie dating her loud-mouthed childhood friend.

It was a no-brainer.

Blackstar even _told _her he had a lone wolf friend he wanted to set her up with. Blackstar only had one friend and she never even bothered to learn his name!

When she heard Soul open the door and listened in on the voices, she immediately recognized them as Blackstar and Tsubaki.

Which was bad- very, very bad. They didn't know her whereabouts and she didn't want them to. If they found out then Kid found out and then her parents found out and she was discovered. She'd be pressured to make up with Hiro and all of those stupid expectations would come back. She didn't want that, not quite yet.

In a moment's time, she shot a desperate look at Soul and waved her arms around frantically. He seemed to get the general idea of her plea because he stopped calling her mid-name and stalled at the door. And then she did what any logical human being would do and dove behind the couch and wedged herself between its back and the wall.

Maka wasn't comfortable in this position, not by any stretch of the imagination, but she couldn't face those two yet. So she would just have to listen in from behind the couch as the three of her unusually connected friends chatted over lunch.

This whole hiding from people thing behind or under furniture thing had to stop.

* * *

"So Blackstar told me you're like into realty."

Tsubaki nodded, "Yes I am! I'm mostly involved with people renting apartments than anything else. I suppose it's specialized in my field."

Blackstar shrugged, "She enjoys it, but it sounds boring to me."

Tsubaki flushed, "You said it was interesting..."

"To you, and that's all that matters. You're the hottest realtor out there if it helps."

Tsubaki blushed and fidgeted with her hands under the table. Soul tried not to make a gagging sound, and luckily succeeded. Maka was smart, and he was sure that she figured out by this point that Blackstar and Tsubaki were the same people he was always talking about being overly-affectionate in public that she did. The fact his best friend and her best friend were dating and their names never got tossed to each other was odd, but he was decently sure Blackstar had tried to set Maka up on a blind date with him before to no avail.

"Yeah, I know a lot of people with boring ass jobs. Our friend Maka is an accountant or some shit- she's cute though man, you'd like her. In fact, if she ever appears on the face of the earth again I believe she's recently singl-"

"Blackstar!"

The blue-haired man held up his hands in defense, "Okay, okay! You're right that was tasteless of me. She might still have a thing for Hiro or whatever..."

Soul listened in with an intense interest, but feigned complete obliviousness to what they were talking about.

"I don't think so Blackstar. Maka's my best friend and I can tell you that she talked more passionately about the characters in the books she read than about Hiro. Their relationship was set up strictly out of convenience."

Blackstar shrugged, "I guess you're right babe. I mean, ever since we were kids she showed very little interest in anyone that way," Blackstar shifted his gaze to Soul, "You see we have this friend who's been going through a tough time as of late and kind of is MIA."

Soul shrugged, "Wouldn't know."

"I'm really worried; I just want to know if she's okay..." Tsubaki whispered. Soul sighed, knowing that from her little spot behind the couch Maka was most likely melting in her own guilt and regret.

"I'm sure she is! Maka's tough like that! She's probably out there kicking ass and taking names and escaping from the stress of life!"

Soul almost laughed at the thought but held it in. If Maka had been doing anything lately it had been cleaning and reviewing his story ideas and watching Harry Potter marathons on TV. Other than that she hadn't done much of anything productive and he could tell it was really starting to bother her. He wasn't the type that had to constantly be doing something but he could tell she was.

Blackstar looked to Soul and shook his head, "Maka missing is actually the reason I've been so preoccupied lately."

Tsubaki shook her head, "We all know she's okay... she's left messages for her parents but they were all so short and evasive. I'm sure she's still hung up on the whole Hiro situation. Poor girl- I'm sure Hiro would take her back if she just came home. Maybe Blackstar is right, maybe she did love him."

Soul lowered his eyes to the table and became silent. He knew that Maka was probably fuming right now and desperately trying to not make herself known just to tell Tsubaki off. The black-haired woman was doing well before when stating Maka saw him as no more than a friend but her inability to stick to her own opinion was the downfall.

"How do you know she's upset because of that? What if she's fine not being with the guy anymore?"

Soul said the words quicker than he could process and left Blackstar and Tsubaki confused.

"What do you mean?" Tsubaki asked, "She was about to marry him; I'm sure she is devastated that he would give up on their relationship like that."

Soul shrugged, "Maybe she's upset because people assume she's not good enough to be okay with this. Maybe she's upset because people act like she's not worthy of moving on and should be begging for this guy to take her back. If you ask me it sounds like she just needed a break and that's why she's fallen off the face of the earth temporarily."

Soul kicked himself silently for being so dramatic. He didn't mean to sound preachy but he knew Maka was behind the couch and more likely than not very angry, sad, or a mixture of the two. Smad.

"Y-you're right..." Tsubaki lifted a trembling hand to her mouth and looked as if she was on the verge of tears, "Oh I'm such a horrible friend!"

Blackstar put a hand on her shoulder, "No, no! You just were looking out for what you thought Maka wanted. I'm sure she'll come back in a few days and you'll be ready to support her no matter what, right?"

Tsubaki sniffed and nodded as Blackstar glared at Soul for upsetting his girlfriend. Soul opened his mouth to force out a half-assed apology when there was an interruption.

"_Achoo!"_

Blackstar, Tsubaki, and Soul all looked over to the lovely couch in the living room that had just sneezed.

"Uh, dude, I think your couch sneezed..."

Soul swallowed, "I'm sure you're hearing things."

"I heard it too," Tsubaki added, "I think there's a small animal behind your couch. Blackstar why don't you check it out..."

"NO!" They both looked over to Soul's wide red eyes and panicked expression, "Uh, what I mean is the animal could have rabies or something and attack you."

Blackstar narrowed his eyes, "What's wrong with you man?" He stood up and walked straight over to the sniffling couch without a concern. He kneeled on it and peeked over, "Ohhh okay I see." Blackstar then stood up, turned around, and walked back over to the table and sat down.

It was quiet for one second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

"SOUL WHY THE HELL IS MAKA BEHIND YOUR COUCH?"

Soul winced. Busted.

* * *

Soul stared from his spot behind his counter in his kitchen where he and Blackstar were talking about whatever the hell came up first in conversation. It didn't really matter; whatever they spoke of was secondary to them half watching and listening in on Maka and Tsubaki in the other room. The two girls appeared to be having a meaningful conversation on the couch where Maka held both of the dark-haired girl's hands and stared straight into her eyes. If Soul didn't know how into Blackstar Tsubaki was, he'd assume that the two of the girls were about to kiss from how deep into each other's eyes they were gazing.

After a few more minutes the girls hugged and stood up. He got the general idea of it. Maka explained how she was feeling and Tsubaki apologized and said how she knew now how Maka felt and Maka thanked Tsubaki for being a fantastic best friend and blah blah blah.

"Bang her yet?"

Soul's eyes widened as he snapped his head around to meet Blackstar's. The blue-haired idiot was snickering while munching on potato chips, but Soul found no humor in what he said.

"Dude! That's your childhood friend! Shouldn't you be threatening to chop off my dick if I even think about that?"

Blackstar shrugged in response, "I would, but I already know Maka wouldn't do that if she was given a million dollars. Besides, you're not really her type."

Soul frowned, "I don't have to be her type to be hot enough to bang."

"That's not what I _said."_

"Then apologize," Soul pouted with his arms crossed and his head tilted up.

Blackstar sighed, "Fine. I'm sorry Soul, I was wrong and you are indeed smoking hot."

"How hot, Blackstar?" Soul pushed.

"You are indeed bangable."

"Ahem," Soul and Blackstar turned to find a giggling Tsubaki and a less-than-thrilled Maka with one eyebrow raised without amusement in her expression. "You two are weird," she noted simply.

"Duh," Blackstar responded with a look on his face suggesting that bit of information should have been obvious.

Maka shook her head in exasperation and changed the subject, "So my parents-"

"They know you're okay. They're fine too, so no need to worry," Tsubaki smiled and put a hand on her friend's shoulder comfortingly.

Maka sighed in relief, "That's good to know. I guess I should probably let Kid, Liz, and Patty know I'm okay too. They're probably worried."

Blackstar rolled his eyes, "I've only met that kid a couple of times and I already want to bitchslap him. But yeah, he's been bothering Tsubaki about you too. He says that his life isn't as symmetrical or balanced now or some crap. You should probably let him know you're alive or whatever."

Maka giggled, missing her friend's idiotic obsession with symmetry that she'd never understand. She'd talk to him tomorrow when Soul was at work. She yawned blatantly and without holding back, having almost forgotten she and Soul had stayed up way late the night before working on the movie idea. She barely had three hours of sleep and was craving more.

"Wow, you seem beat Maka," Blackstar noticed as he observed the girl rub her eyes wearily, "we'll leave you to catch up on some z's and see you tomorrow. Glad to know you're okay and oddly enough with Soul."

Tsubaki hugged her friend one last time and left with Blackstar after the former winked suggestively at Soul and wiggled his eyebrows. Soul could have sworn he saw Blackstar mouth something while pointing at Maka on his way out, but he was too beat to do anything about it.

Soul was more relieved than he'd care to admit that they didn't bring up Maka staying anywhere else. He hated to admit it, but he'd gotten used to the company and was actually starting to really enjoy it.

"Tired?" he asked, noticing how she kept rubbing her eyes. It was adorable and almost adolescent how sleepy Maka got, he'd noticed. She was an early riser, but that came with the early sleeper as well- the exact opposite of him. She nodded wearily in return.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna go to sleep."

Soul smirked, "Good. I want you nice and awake tomorrow. I have something fun planned after I get home from work."

She tilted her head in curiosity but was far too tired to attempt pressing him. She'd decide to leave it at that and wait until the next day to see what he was talking about.

It only took her a good two minutes before she was out like a lightbulb and snuggled under two blankets on his couch. Soul stopped outside of his bedroom door and turned around one last time before calling it a night. In a once in a lifetime opportunity, Soul was graced with a chance to see Maka Albarn sleeping and without that sarcastic and snippy attitude of hers. Sleeping, she looked like any girl would... actually, Soul would even say she looked pretty. Her features were soft without their constant annoyed expressions and without her pigtails her loose blond hair made her look feminine and older, like she actually _was _twenty-two.

Soul shook his head, mentally scolding himself. Pretty or not, he refused to act like that creepy pale guy from Twilight and watch girls sleep.

He'd been told he looked like vampire enough in his life. He did _not _want to put himself anymore in the same category as that dude from Twilight.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks for reading!**

* * *

Chapter 5: Red Wine and Crayons

"So you brought me to the mall because...?"

Soul rolled his eyes, annoyed at Maka's constant questioning. In the short time he'd known her he had quickly picked up on her tendency to be more pestering than simply inquisitive. She just happened to be incredibly curious while simultaneously determined to get answers no matter what, and in the end Soul was finding it difficult to keep anything a surprise.

"You said that you've been living in Death City for years and you still haven't been anywhere but where you work and your apartment. That's pretty damn sad, Maka."

The girl narrowed her forest-green eyes and crossed her arms in defiance, "Excuse you but I know a good portion of restaurants in this area, too."

"That's not exciting though," Soul blew a few strands of white hair out of his eyes and put his hands in his pockets, assuming the 'cool guy' pose he had long since perfected, "You need to know the places to have fun."

"The mall isn't anything special. I've been here once or twice to the bigger stores."

"Yeah, and those aren't the fun ones. Come on, there's gotta be something a bit more enjoyable than a trip to a department store."

Maka rolled her eyes at him, but complied to his demands and walked into the mall's main entrance when he opened the door. She was met with a quick cool breeze of air conditioning and the aroma of soft pretzels from the stand nearby. There was chattering in the background and Soul immediately felt himself become at ease. The mall in Death City was huge, making it incredibly easy to get lost in the crowd. That was probably why Soul liked it so much there since he could be there for hours while getting the experience of being around people without having to actually socialize. He kept his life to include himself, his coworkers, Blackstar, and the occasional call to his parents. He liked to be a small fish in an endless pond, hence why he chose the city life.

"There are a lot of people here, we're like ants," Maka noted, voicing Soul's thoughts.

"Yeah, come on. Let's go to the best store first."

* * *

"The dollar store?" Maka drolled in an unamused voice, "That's your favorite store?"

They stood in the entrance where the mall met the individual store and stared in at the plethora of useless things sold in exchange of a single bill plus tax. It was a big chance to take, he knew, but he also knew that Maka seemed to enjoy stupid random things similar to himself. And if he enjoyed the dollar store, he was sure she would.

"It's not the store as much as it is the experience."

Maka raised an eyebrow, "Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Have you ever seen how many fun things you can get here that you'll never need but somehow want?"

Maka shook her head- he wasn't quite sure at what though- and walked past him into the store. She scrutinized the shelves searching up and down before turning down the next isle to do the same thing. "There's nothing here." She finally decided with a short nod of her head, "It's all just useless junk."

"That's just because you aren't looking for the right things. Like uh..." Soul turned to a shelf and spotted the first thing in his line of sight, "This!" he said holding the package up for her to admire.

"Water balloons? What are you, ten?"

"Twenty-three," he mumbled under his breath with a blush. It would have been better if he hadn't actually thought of a few good uses for water balloons. As edgy and adult-ish he could seem at times, he enjoyed a lot of childish games. Water balloons just seemed too tempting...

Maka pursed her lips, "Maybe the next store will be better."

* * *

They had been to a total of nine stores so far, each of them decently enjoyable. Soul always glossed over the normal department stores and such but stopped at every toy store, candy shop, and store with shiny things in the window possible. Maka could tell what he was doing, since it made sense considering what they've been talking about recently. He was nagging about how unfair it was that certain people never got childhoods, and although she wasn't positive whether he was referring to her or to himself, she knew that this was a cheap way of trying to make that up. Maka had to give him credit where credit was due, she had actually been enjoying her time at the mall. The candy shop had her favorite licorice and Soul happened to be naturally funny whether he meant to be or not, so his company was appreciated.

At the moment they were people watching, and Soul seemed to be impressed at her uncanny ability to read people.

"What about that girl?" Soul asked, nodding his head at a bypasser with short and curly red hair and sparkling brown eyes in a sundress.

"Hmm..." Maka took a sip of her lemonade and swished it around in her mouth a bit, "She's often annoyed that people think she's only good for being cute and small, but she actually can kick major ass. She has a bad temper but loves sweets."

Soul shook his head in amazement and dropped his chin on the food court table, "How can you tell all that?"

Maka pointed at the woman, "Do you see how she's carrying the bag from the candy shop? It's filled to the brim."

"How do you know she wasn't buying that for someone else?"

"The bag's a bit unzipped at the top meaning she's been picking at it. Also she has a look in her eyes that means silent badass. I can just tell."

"And the temper?"

"She was walking away from a store earlier and mumbling to herself. She probably didn't like the service and got angry about it. It's all really easy if you know what to look for."

Soul glanced around, searching for another victim. They had been surveying everyone, and Maka picked apart every last one of them including businessmen, children, women, teenagers, and workers alike.

"What about that girl?"

Maka turned her head to see a large-breasted girl a tad on the shorter side with short blond hair with choppy bangs and big blue eyes. Upon seeing the woman, Maka smirked.

"Oh, that's easy. She's probably twenty-two and single with a crazy giraffe obsession. She's a bit ditzy and random but knows when to get serious. I bet she has one older sister and they lived on their own until finding a nice job and safe environment at a hotel. This girl's favorite color is probably yellow and she more likely than not enjoys sports and games. She's probably a manager or something though, which surprises most people she meets based on her care-free personality."

Soul's red eyes widened and he gave Maka an incredulous look, "I'm calling BS. As magical as you are, there's no way you can tell all of that just from a look."

Maka smiled teasingly and shrugged, "I guess you're right. That would be impossible; even _I'm _not that good."

"Then why did yo-"

"MAKAAAAAA!"

The blonde that they had previously been examining was seen running over towards them at the speed of light with the most determined look on her face. She wasted no time in shedding over-the-top tears of joy and picking up Maka despite the latter's clear desire to be put down and spun her around while hugging her tightly.

"MAAAAAAAKAAAAA!"

"Hey there, Patty."

Patty was sobbing dramatically like some sort of anime character and had snot pooling in her nose. It was quite weird yet simultaneously endearing to Soul, and he couldn't help but think that the girl's name rang a bell.

"Oh wait Maka, is this one of those two sisters you were talking about?"

Maka nodded and patted Patty on the head with a small smile, "Yeah. Actually Patty, I've been meaning to get in contact with you, Liz, and Kid. I assumed you'd be a little curious as to my whereabouts and whatnot-"

"MAKA WE WERE SO WORRIED!" Maka winced at Patty's suddenly angry face, "HOW DARE YOU MAKE US WORRIED LIKE THAT?" The girl hugged Maka again and stroked her pigtails. Soul's first impression of this girl was that she was fucking weird as fuck but somehow kind of cool. Maka seemed to talk about an eclectic group of friends she had, so this made sense. Seeing as much as she talked about her friends Soul was shocked that they never met before through Blackstar, but that was all in the past now. Now he should probably worry more about whether or not this Patty girl's hugs would suffocate Maka.

"Patty, is Liz or Kid with you?"

Patty nodded, "Sis is around here somewhere. She's been really worried about you but she's also kind of happy you've been all mysteriously off the grid. Something about you probably being in the process of experiencing those good old 'college years'."

Maka raised an inquisitive brow at Patty's phrasing, "I graduated from college already. I have a job and everything, so what is she even talking about."

Patty grinned and threw her hands up, "Sis is just worried you never got those drunk and crazy years where you go from guy to guy and-"

After that all Maka could see was Patty mouthing words and using her hands in lewd gestures, most likely going into elaborate detail about the Thompson idea of 'fun college years'. However, she couldn't hear a word of it because Soul had covered her ears and prevented her from understanding fully what Patty was referring to, although she had a pretty good idea what Liz was telling her younger sister.

After Patty was done and was left with an innocent girlish smile on her face, Soul released Maka's ears and the latter shook her head at Patty.

"I don't know what your sister is telling you but I don't need wild or crazy college years _believe me. _I just needed a break from my family and Hiro and all that."

"Well in any matter Sis completely supported you dropping off the face of the earth. Me and Kid on the other hand aren't so thrilled about your recent actions..." The blond girl's big blue eyes suddenly held a deadly edge to them.

Maka gulped, "Calm down Patty I was just taking a break from it, okay? I promise I'm good now."

Patty pouted and crossed her arms, "Double pinky promise with a pickle on top?" Soul made a confused expression at Patty's odd phrasing but decided against making a comment. It seemed this girl was anything but ordinary and who was he to judge?

"Of course," Maka nodded softly.

"Yay!" Patty jumped up and tugged at Maka's arm, "Come on, Sis wants to see you I'm sure!"

* * *

...

If Soul had to choose either Patty or Liz to be stuck with right now, surprisingly he'd choose the crazy-ass younger Thompson sister because, although she was insane and was not above poking fun at him because of his odd appearance, at least she wasn't sending him sly glances every so often and making subtle comments about him and Maka.

The same could not be said for the elder Thompson sister.

Soul glanced at his watch. He had been introduced to Liz precisely twenty-four minutes and thirteen seconds ago and she had already implied there was some sort of something between him and Maka at least four times, and there were plenty of more subdued comments as well. It was getting annoying and for some reason it was also making him blush which was _not _cool.

"So you've been living in this creepy guy's apartment?" Liz asked with a scrunch of her nose.

Maka rolled her eyes, "Yes. And he can hear you; he's right here." Soul nodded in confirmation of Maka's obvious assessment.

"And now you're hanging out?" Liz pressed.

"So what?"

Liz took a sip of her weird hipster iced tea and shrugged, "I dunno seems pretty fishy. Is this why Hiro dumped you like a pile of dog crap? Is it because you were cheating on him with this gothic guy?"

"I'm not gothic!" Soul whined in protest.

"Be quiet Lord Darkness. Anyway, spill it Maka. Is that why you and Hiro never tied the knot?"

"_Liz!" _Maka hissed, looking utterly offended. "How could you even suggest something so cruel? Of course I wouldn't cheat on him! We just didn't have any feelings for each other and he just chose an inopportune time to let me know that a marriage without love would bother him."

"That 'inopportune time' being on your wedding day?"

"Pretty much."

Liz nodded, skeptical but believing, and took another sip of her drink as they sat at one of the sitting areas in the center of the mall on the ground floor. It was an open area with lots of people passing by and able to hear the conversation taking place if they felt like it, but Liz's crude nature defied all logic of perhaps keeping it clean for the bypassers.

"So then are you fucking this dude or not?"

Both Maka and Soul turned a matching shade of scarlet and Maka pulled a book out of nowhere and smashed it into Liz's skull. "MAKA-CHOP!"

"Ow! Dammit that hurts Maka! Ugh, a girl can't even ask a simple question without being on the defensive anymore."

Maka was still blushing, but managed to get over her flustered appearance as she put the book away and crossed her arms indignantly. "Even if I was conoodling with this idiot, I wouldn't tell you. And I'm _not, _believe me."

Soul frowned, "No need to be so defensive about it. It's not like it's an insult to you to be asked if you were canoodling me!"

"Yes it is!"

"Why is that? I'm sexy!"

"In your _dreams _idiot! You look like some Kaneki Ken reject!"

"Wha-? Well at least I look like I'm older than fourteen! Lose the pigtails why don't you?"

"I'd rather be someone who looks fourteen and has real job experience than someone who's twenty-three and still can't hold down a job anywhere but a coffee shop!"

"Hey! Uncalled for! I'm still making enough money for the nice apartment I'm letting you stay in! How about some gratitude?"

"Gratitude for what? I'm cooking and cleaning like some sort of maid!"

"You can't be a maid! Maids are supposed to be hot and actually have tits!"

"Um excuse me what sort of perverted thoughts towards cleaning services do you have? Maids aren't like the ones in anime you know!"

As the two bickered Patty and Liz exchanged a glance, and the two sisters smirked in unison. It was easy- too easy- to lay the trap and even easier to examine their findings. They were good at what they did and that was observing. With Hiro, Maka never fought and never bickered, which was odd seeing as that was all she did with her close friends. Yelling was almost a way she showed her affection. She reprimanded Blackstar and scolded Patty and threatened Kid and argued with Liz and Tsubaki, but with this kid it was somehow different. It was as if she was prepared to tear Soul a new one with her vicious words and malicious comments.

Liz decided immediately that Soul and Maka were going to get married one day.

* * *

They were sitting in the living room of Soul's apartment with Maka laying on the floor with her heels kicked up in the air and Soul sitting at the coffee table. Both were coloring in the lines of the coloring books they bought at the mall that day from the toy store (Soul insisted on going in) as they drank red wine (Maka insisted on buying a few bottles to last a while to make up for the 'trouble' she'd been causing him by staying at his place). Somehow the two activities contradicted each other in a way that seemed befitting for the two of them.

"You suck at staying in the lines when you color you know," Soul remarked out of the blue.

"Huh?" she asked, turning towards him as if she heard incorrectly.

"You were probably so busy studying as a kid you never learned to color in the lines. Sad but true, isn't it?"

It was a simple comment really, but Maka was already slightly buzzed from all the wine she had drank along with coloring these pages, and she was really looking into his words. It was true, she never had time for fun games and ingenuous ideas and past times like other children did. She put a lot of pressure on herself to grow up quickly and get a nice job and secure a nice future so she wouldn't end up struggling like her parents. They started out having little money, and although they managed to get themselves back onto their feet, they still pushed for her marriage with Hiro in order to secure stability. That kind of person was someone Maka never wanted to become. She wanted to achieve success and stability as soon as possible so she would never have to demean herself for the sake of her financial status ever again.

Look where that got her- Sitting on the stairs to her wedding location sobbing alone until some stranger came along and offered to take her to McDonald's.

"You think I grew up too quickly?" she asked innocently with a tilt of her head. She paused her coloring to pour herself yet another glass of wine. She let herself get carried away with wine sometimes but could tell that Soul didn't have it in his heart to stop her. She hadn't had too much yet but she still was feeling the effects... it was enough to make her thoughts hazy.

"You were getting married pretty early. Not only that but you already had an apartment and job and your future laid out. You're still so young though."

"You're right. But it was my own decision."

Soul sighed and picked out a different shade of blue crayon and began to once again color in the sky on the page he had chosen. He would pause every so often and take a sip of wine, nowhere near as intoxicated as Maka but somehow still feeling lightheaded. There was an uncomfortable silence between them for a while as they both mindlessly colored. Maka thought about what he said- he was right, she _did _grow up too fast. She knew that; she wasn't blind. But what Soul refused to see was that she had no other choice. She never wanted to have to rely on other people to save her and her family from their own failures. Hiro was her only gateway to an affluent lifestyle of ease.

"You know," Soul said quietly after a long period of silence between the two of them, "For someone who wants to do everything herself and be so self-sufficient, you sure seemed to have Hiro be a major part of your plan."

Maka paused and slowly swallowed the words, considering the truth behind his sudden thoughts. He was right, and once again she knew that. He knew her faults and the holes in her own plots. She had nothing to argue with, nothing to say in response because even she herself had thought of that before and just accepted that as the bit of hypocrisy she was sure everyone was allowed.

"Why don't you stop focusing on security and start doing what you should have done years ago and start living for yourself and to be happy."

Maka lifted her head up, "You think I should live based on happiness rather than reason?"

Soul shrugged and ceased his coloring in favor of leaning his back against the couch and stretching his legs across the floor, "It would probably make you feel better in the end. Happiness is a lot more rewarding, if you ask me."

Maka scoffed, "You gave up reason for happiness and you lost your job. Tell me how that's beneficial to you."

"At least I took the chance. There aren't any regrets for me to face every day and that's all I can ask for," Soul said simply as he eyed his glass of wine wondering if he should pour another glass or stop so there could be at least one sober-ish person in the apartment.

There was another awkward pause and before Soul could even react Maka was right in front of him only inches away from his face. His red eyes widened as she stared back at him plainly with her green ones. They were so close and he really didn't know what to make of the situation as she slowly leaned in closer and closer... He didn't know how someone could be so close yet so far but all he knew was that- like typical him- he wasn't thinking about it and only followed her lead and let himself fall deeper into the spell and slowly begin to close his eyes. Under the illusion of red wine and an unaccounted for notion of something indescribable, he could only allow this to unfold. Just as his eyes were about to completely close and their mouths were about to meet she spoke up quietly.

"If I lived like that and followed my heart," she whispered lowly with hooded eyes and her lips barely away from his, "Then I'd end up doing something stupid and illogical."

He opened his eyes and saw something akin to regret in her emerald orbs as she stood and walked towards the bathroom. She stepped on the coloring book on her way over and muttered out, "I'm brushing my teeth and going to bed."

Soul sighed as he watched her retreating form close the door to the bathroom behind her. He picked himself up and carried their wine glasses to the kitchen sink, frowning as he felt how empty hers was in comparison to his.

* * *

**(sorryyyy for taking so long to update this thing)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for reading! I kind of like this chapter soooo... enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Realization**

To say she felt guilty would be an insane understatement. Though she was quite tipsy when it had all occurred, she did manage to recollect a general idea of what had gone down the night before. He had been trying to give her helpful advice and instead of taking it like any sane person would, she let her stubborn side get the best of her and acted insanely unprofessionally. And why? Because she felt the need to justify how she was always too afraid to follow her own path. Disgusting.

She woke up late; around eleven thirty. By that point Soul had left for work so she managed to avoid him for now. Later there would be no escape however, and Maka needed to pull herself together and face what she'd (stupidly) done. The whole thing was that she really didn't know _why _she did what she did. There had to be some explanation for why she almost kissed that white-haired idiot, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Perhaps it was some sort of underlying psychological reasoning? It was already nighttime and all she had done the entire day was sit around the apartment and sulk and question her motives.

If there was one person who knew how to read people and weigh the facts to find a logical explanation, it was Kid. Although Kid was more or less the only one of her close friends she hadn't seen since the incident with her failed wedding, she knew that things wouldn't be awkward if she went to talk to him. After all, they had been really close friends since she moved to the city, and aside from Tsubaki he was her most preferable confidant. Maka quickly pulled her hair into her childish pigtails and grabbed her jacket before heading out and locking the door behind her.

* * *

She expected him to look stoic as usual.

She expected him to nod and ask her how she was doing.

She expected him to remain in his office chair as she sat across from his desk and asked him how he was doing in return.

What she did _not _expect was for him to lunge at her the moment she walked through his office door on one of the top floors of the Shibusen Hotel and hug her tightly with dramatic anime-esque tears streaming down his face while he informed her through his incessant screaming that he "missed her symmetrical pigtails so much".

Maka was both creeped out and oddly enough endeared from her friend's kindness. She hadn't really considered Kid to be the emotional type involving others; he usually kept his creepy episodes to himself usually involving order and perfection. However, it was clear that she had been out of her friend's life for too long this time.

"Hey Kid." She smiled warmly as she pet his head right where the white lines on his hair were. He claimed they were natural but Liz told Maka that Kid dyed his hair to look that way on purpose, having been caught in the process one day when Liz walked in on him with his head in the sink and dye in his hand. He assumed a bonus in Liz's paycheck was enough to buy her silence. What Kid did not take into consideration was that Liz had no morals nor any intent to ever gain them. Instead, Liz took the bonus to fund a 'girls night out' with her, Patty, Tsubaki, and Maka where she spilled the beans and divulged the secrets of her boss and his hair dye. Between the four of them they still couldn't piece together why he would even dye his hair, so they let it be and never questioned it.

"Maka! I demand to know where you've been!" Kid released his tight hold on her and crossed his arms. He looked angry, but for some reason she knew he was putting on airs.

"I just took a little break is all. The company shut down so I kind of need to start thinking about new employment." She didn't mention what Kid clearly was searching for.

"Where have you been staying?" He asked as he straightened out the tie to his suit and returned to the seat behind his desk.

"Actually I've been staying with a friend of Blackstar's." She didn't add that it was someone she randomly crashed with and happened to find out later was an acquaintance of her obnoxious friend. That seemed too sketchy for Kid's liking. Still, this answer _still _wasn't doing it for him.

"Are you sure that's safe? Living alone with a _man_?"

Maka bit her lip, not wanting to tell Kid that between her and Soul, _she_ was the one who almost sexually assaulted _him_... sort of. She didn't actually kiss him. Well, it was all a bit foggy. She was tipsy and tired and desperate for closeness and he had been right there and being so sweet. Maka always prided herself on not being clingy and desperate for human affection but boy was she wrong. Soul would never know the amount of self control it took her to pull away instead of closing the distance between their lips last night. What this _meant _she still wasn't sure. She never felt that way with Hiro, this was on a whole different level.

"Uh, it's safe I'm sure. He hasn't done anything but help me since I started staying with him. I have to find a place of my own to stay at soon or I'll start feeling really guilty." _And confused, _she mentally added.

"I know I don't have any available rooms for you, but why not stay with Patricia or Elizabeth? I'm sure they'd be thrilled to oblige. You can all do your 'gal talks'," he said in a monotone voice paired with air quotes. Maka rolled her eyes and took a seat in a cushioned chair facing his desk.

"I'd rather not. I don't think I can handle being around those two for too long of a duration. They'd start to take me out of my comfort zone."

Kid tapped his chin, "And I bet you feel like being around Tsubaki would expose you to far too much of her and Blackstar's _activities."_

"Yep."

"And I know living with Hiro is out of the question... speaking of Hiro; his family contacted me three days ago. Maka, I wish I had told you sooner."

"Told me what?" Maka asked, brows furrowed and hands tugging at her shirt. Kid's tone was serious as well as his gaze, causing her to force down a gulp. "What, Kid?"

"I have a suspicion that his family was using you as a means to get to my family's business. I know this is hard to swallow but they've been trying to negotiate deals with me over the past couple of days and mentioned you more than a fair amou-"

"Oh, that? Psh, I know about that already."

Kid looked astounded by this proclamation, but shook his head. "I don't think you understand. I believe that Hiro's family's only motivation for you two to get married was-"

"I know. They only wanted me as a means of business, right?" Maka paused as her smile faded, "It sounds a lot worse when I say it out loud, huh?"

"Maka..."

"I-I can't believe I didn't realize how horrible that was of me sooner... I- I can't believe that I'm so okay with it."

"Maka..." Kid's repeated as his face oozed sympathetic pity and she couldn't stand to look at it. She didn't know if she was more disgusted in Hiro's family of herself for letting something like that happen. She knew and yet she had so little self respect that she just let it all unfold.

"Don't-" her voice cracked. "I'm so stupid," she whispered, "aren't I? To let it happen even though I was aware... it's disgusting."

"Maka it's not your fault, you-"

"How is it not my fault? I let myself be used. I let myself be a pawn. I sold myself out for money, a set future, comfort. I sold myself out and I sold Hiro's life as well. He didn't want that either... he didn't want that marriage. I- I'm so despicable. Maka threw her hands over her face and started crying. No- not crying- sobbing. She let out all the frustration out and began crying like she did that day on the steps. Kid stood and reached out a hand. He had always been uncomfortable with things like this.

Not wanting to be a burden to Kid any longer, Maka stood and headed towards the door, tears freely flowing. She needed to leave and put this misery and self-loathing behind her. She needed to forgiver herself and move on; she needed to remind herself that she was no longer a pawn.

"I have to go," she choked out through tears. Because she knew exactly where she needed to be. There was only one person who was able to stop her tears and sadness the last time they had overtaken her. Only one person was able to possess her and calm her when she needed it. Only one person existed who wasn't clouded by judgment or an assumption that they knew her and what she needed.

And she needed to see him now.

* * *

Soul hated his job. It sucked and he was aware of that. For some reason though his coworkers and boss seemed to enjoy having him in the shop and considered him to be a 'nice young man' despite his clear disinterest in working. Maybe it was the fact his 'lone wolf' attitude and appearance attracted a lot of younger guests of varying hipster backgrounds to assume this place was a cool hangout or whatever and brought in a lot of business... but he still wasn't sure. All he knew was that he was lucky no one said anything when he showed up today looking disorderly and tired with bags under his eyes.

He was still exhausted from his lack of sleep. How _could _he sleep after what Maka did last night? It confused him to no end, much like she did as a whole. He couldn't stop wondering what she meant by what she said or what she wanted from him. After all, he was a guy; holding back from doing what a typical guy would do in his situation was difficult. She was tipsy, close to him, smelling nice, and practically about to kiss him. Instead of going through with it, Maka left him with some ambiguous comment and left him hanging.

His brother was right with what he used to tell Soul when he lived at home, women were confusing- an enigma and a puzzle to never be solved.

"Hey Soul," Kim said with a yawn, "I'm clocking out for the night. Are you sure you're good to close the store?"

He nodded, "Yeah, no problem."

"Alrighty then, good work today. See ya," Kim grabbed her coat and scarf and headed out the door, leaving Soul an empty shop in favor of walking out to the dark streets to head home. She was lucky, she only lived one street over. Soul lived a distance away and always had to walk home late at night. It wasn't that he was in danger or anything, having such a threatening appearance mixed with a 'don't fuck with me' aura. It was just that he was usually pretty tired and had to put up with the long and boring walk home with nothing to entertain him. He hated it.

He hated closing the store too. It was so tedious and annoying.

He filled up the stack of cups and checked the coffee supplies and swept and wiped the counters and so on and so on, gradually wondering more and more why he didn't just crawl back home to his parents and beg for money instead of living paycheck to paycheck. Then he remembered the freedom of the city and frowned as he wiped harder against the counter where a coffee stain was.

The door to the shop opened signaling the bell that was attached to it. Without looking up Soul grumbled out a slightly annoyed "We're closed," without adding on the 'can't you read the sign, moron' that he really wanted to. But the footsteps of the person only showed that they had walked further into the store. Looking up from what he was doing with a scowl drawn across his features Soul was prepared to tell the person with a little more force until he saw who was standing there. He opened his mouth but no words came out; nothing.

* * *

"Hey," Maka said with a slight crack in her voice. Her eyes were red and puffy and she was shivering from the cold outdoors.

"Maka..." Soul straightened himself out and without thinking he began walking over to her slowly, neither of their eyes moving from the other's. He stopped in front of her and slowly brought his hand up to her flushed face. Her cheek was cold against his hand but he didn't think much of it as he used his thumb to wipe away the tears that were still falling from her forest eyes. This action alone made her begin sobbing all over again and lunge into his arms, wrapping her arms tightly around his torso. She sobbed into his chest, throwing self respect as well as self restraint out the window as she let herself go. She could cry, she told herself. Maka was sure that it was _him. Soul and only Soul _could calm her down and allow her to be herself. She didn't need to hide anything.

He didn't ask what was wrong but somehow there existed a mental connection- a resonance- that told him he would be better off not to ask. Instead, as inconvenient as it was to be in the store at night instead of home, Maka continued to unleash her emotional catharsis as Soul acted as an anchor for her. She clutched at his shirt and sobbed into his chest despite the fact a few weeks ago she didn't even know him. Now, as cliché as it sounded in her mind, she couldn't imagine her life without his presence. He was there. He was always there. Back when she lived with Hiro, Maka woke up alone and had breakfast alone and watched TV alone and did puzzles alone and read books alone and went to work alone and did everything imaginable by herself. She told herself, she _convinced _herself that this was just her being a person who enjoyed solitude. But that wasn't it at all. In actuality she just didn't know what it was like to be around someone she was completely comfortable with until now.

"Remember when you first found me on the stairs the morning of my wedding? You were the first person who told me that rather than try to patch things up with Hiro and make the marriage work that I should accept the fact we only see each other as friends and move on to my own path. You really made me open my eyes that day, you know."

Maka was heavily blushing but didn't care; it wasn't as if he could see her face anyway. She just wanted to thank him, as indirectly as it was, for everything he had done for her.

"I just don't know what to do now that I'm free to do what I want. It's like I finally have my life in my hands and have no idea how to handle it." Her voice cracked and she started sobbing all over again. If it wasn't for his tightening grip on her she'd be sure he wasn't even aware of the words she was saying. Soul was being so quiet it was scary. Wanting to make sure he hadn't spaced out, she looked up to make sure he wasn't off in a daze.

"Sou-" But as she turned her head up to look at him she was shocked to instead find him closing in, pressing his lips forcefully against hers. It wasn't like when she kissed anyone else she had prior to this. It wasn't quick and an act of formality rather than emotion. It was somehow connected to her heart and it made all the throbbing her chest had been going through whenever she thought about him make perfect sense.

_So this... _she thought, _this is what it's like to have a crush on someone. _

It was so bizarre to use that terminology in her head seeing as she hadn't been in high school in years, but it was the only word she could think of at the moment. She was surprised when he kissed her, sure, but it wasn't something she couldn't get used to really quick. She was always told she was quick to learn after all.

Maka put her arms around his neck without hesitance and pulled him closer because this was exactly what she needed at the moment. She was so done with feeling hesitant and lost but for the first time in her life she knew she wanted this and she was confident in it despite the fact it was a spur of the moment thing. It just felt _right. _She couldn't believe how soft his lips were, or how his sharp teeth only managed to make her smile into the kiss, or how easy it was for her to fit in his strong arms.

She'd like to be all cutesy and say it was sweet and only lasted a moment (that's how Tsubaki described her first kiss with Blackstar and it seemed to be the most logical type of kiss to share with someone you really care about). However, this kiss was a lot more passionate, which was odd seeing as Maka always pictured herself as the awkward geek who would mess up her first attempt at something so heated.

So far she'd say she was doing pretty well though. Despite the fact she still had tears streaming down her face, she wasn't actively crying. She had her arms around his neck, a suitable place in her opinion, and she knew to tilt her head just the right amount. A lot of the props went to Soul, though, because he seemed to be a natural. He was keeping it clean enough to be sweet but deep enough to be intense without being sloppy. He ran a hand up the curve of her side and she shivered completely involuntarily. She should have been concerned with how insanely good he was, but was too lost in the moment to even care. She wasn't exaggerating in claiming it seemed to last forever, but eventually Soul pulled away slowly, his eyes lifting slightly and his breath still close. Just like in the plethora of romance novels Maka read, he didn't let go right away and instead held onto her. In a way it was intimidating because in that moment she felt more vulnerable than ever before, including that morning on the stairs when she first met him.

"That fear you feel," he whispered, moving his lips to her ear, "is a good thing. It means you aren't playing it safe anymore. It means you get to use that big brain of yours for something adventurous."

Maka blushed, feeling the full weight of what had just transacted between the two of them. Was it just some platonic thing Soul did to get his point across?

"I-uh-I guess I'll make a fresh start with my life then?" She still couldn't speak through the strain in her voice.

As relaxed and cool as ever, Soul laughed and loosened his grip. "Are you asking me or telling me?"

"I'm telling you?" Maka gulped, completely red by this point.

He ruffled her hair, which normally would earn him a Maka-chop had the situation been different than her current state of complete distress and already being a mess. She didn't know exactly whether or not being near Soul was a good or bad influence, but it was what she needed, what she _wanted. _

So without hesitation she nodded to herself and crossed her arms, "I'm gonna quit my job."

Soul's face contorted in confusion. "Wait, what?"

"I hate it. It's boring and bland and it makes everyday feel so repetitive. If I do what you do I could make enough to support myself in a small apartment. Something like working at a store or maybe a bar. I heard baristas make a reasonable amount in tips."

Soul, crossing his arms as well, turned his head away from her and blushed slightly. It was completely unbefitting to his character, but when the next sentence came out of his mouth Maka understood why.

"Or you could-like-stay at my place. The rent would be way cheaper between the two of us splitting it and the company isn't bad or whatever."

Maka giggled, completely adoring his tsundere tendencies revealing themselves as he stared at his shoes and moved his foot on the ground back and forth like an embarrassed child. It was endearing and also quite surprising how he could go from Mr. Seduction to this embarrassed heap of adorableness so quickly, but it only fit his motto: live in the moment and live to be happy.

Maka decided to do the same and say exactly what she wanted to right then and there.

"Okay. I'll do just that then."

* * *

**What is even going on I don't even know anymore. Why am I even writing this. Whatever I'm gonna do it anyway.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello yes it's been a while but I'm in that stage of applying for colleges and it's been a lot to do. Anyway the place I work closed for the season so I have a LOT more free time now. Hopefully I can update at least once every other week, hopefully more. **

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Man in the Hat**

Neither would admit it, but they both felt an awkward air between them after what had occurred the week before in the coffee shop. It wasn't as if it negatively impacted their friendship, quite the contraire- it happened to ease a lot of the discomfort and unnecessary formality between them; but it also bred something much more difficult to deal with. It was a cliché case of sexual tension between two young adults living together due to an odd occurrence of unrealistic events.

Maka mentally huffed; it sounded like some goddamn fanfiction written by some loser fangirl with too much time on her hands.

"You sure you want to go through with this?" Soul asked her casually as he shoved his hands in his pockets and stared up at the tall building that housed many sleek apartments. Up on the floor she was so familiar with she had a gut feeling Hiro was there. She knew that it was time, and just as Soul advised she needed to face her fears head-on.

"It's too late to back down now. Doesn't it seem a little weird I'm showing up to get my stuff with some random guy?"

Soul waved her off and added a 'nah' for good measure before walking towards the door. He pulled at the handles, softly at first. He frowned when he noticed it wouldn't budge, and used both hands the second time, growling when the door refused to open.

"Wow it's almost like there's security and you need a card to enter," Maka drawled with a roll of her eyes. Soul looked back at her over his shoulder and pouted at the card she held between her middle and index finger. "Idiot," she added, grinning when she passed him to slide it through the lock. The door immediately opened and she grabbed his hand and pulled Soul through the door and into the hall that led to the lobby. She ignored the heat in her face and didn't _dare _look back knowing that his lack of speech meant he was probably blushing as well. It was pitiful how two twenty-something year olds were acting like innocent schoolchildren at the thought of something as juvenile and cutesy as hand holding.

"Hello Ms. Albarn," the smiling man at the desk greeted with an annoyingly chipper attitude.

"Hello Sid."

Maka pressed the button for the elevator, which immediately opened upon the request of the button. As the two young adults listened to the Enya-ish music and slowly passed floor by floor, Soul broke the silence.

"Is that Sid guy a friend of yours?"

Maka nodded, "He's a nice guy. He owns this apartment building as well as a few others. He's a business buddy of Kid actu-".

Maka froze and bit her lip, crossing her arms and staring at the bottom corner of the elevator in deep thought. She couldn't _believe _she had been so stupid to have never noticed that either. It was like every goddamn time she turned around there was another piece of evidence she should have picked up on sooner that felt like a stab in the chest. It wasn't like she blamed Hiro, as she said before, but it still hurt to feel so used and complacent. It was like everyone she knew and everywhere Hiro and her went it was for the sake of his family's business.

"Hey," Soul said softly, as if he could hear every word of her internal monologue, "It's going to be okay. You stopped this all before it was too late, remember?"

Maka nodded and felt a tinge of red creep up on her cheeks again. She pulled up the red scarf she was wearing to cover it, but knew that he must have noticed it. Soul must have mustered up enough courage to push through the embarrassment and place a comforting hand on her shoulder, a hand that felt warm and reassuring. As someone who never really cared for human contact or affection, she found it pitiful how within the last week every form of contact with Soul no matter how little was driving her on the brink of insanity.

"T-thanks," she stuttered. Damn, she really _was_ starting to sound like some character in a poorly written fanfiction.

Before the poor girl had to suffer any more embarrassment, the chime to the elevator went off and the doors slid open to reveal their designated floor. "Here we are," Maka piped up with a revived confidence, "It's down this hall."

She was grateful for leaving the elevator and that tense situation behind. It had been like that all week since the… _occurrence, _and although they hadn't done anything after that night in the coffee shop, the number of times they were reduced to puddles of blushes and stammering was remarkably increasing as time went on.

She reached into the false plant in front of the door to her and Hiro's- no, to Hiro's apartment and stared at it for a moment.

"Maybe I should just knock this time," she noted out loud. Soul chuckled and nodded.

"Good call, idiot- _ow! _Where the hell did that book come from?"

Maka's eyes held a sparked fire within them as she held the hard cover book up post-Maka Chop and then slowly lowered it down. "Don't concern yourself with that! I always have a book when someone is being mean and needs a chop!"

Soul rubbed his head through his shaggy white hair and made an admittedly adorable face, "Owy."

Rolling her eyes, Maka was about to reply when they began hearing steps making their way towards the door. She stiffened and was frozen in her spot standing with her eyes glued wide open. She hadn't even knocked on the door yet and he was coming to answer it. When Maka quickly considered the thought of facing Hiro without preparation she seriously considered running but the moment she turned to exit the hall in a speedy escape Soul gave her a glare that informed her she'd be doing no such thing.

He was right; she needed to face this. Standing up straighter, Maka took a deep breath and faced the door. It opened, slowly and painfully, and when it was left completely ajar, Maka opened her mouth completely prepared to tell Hiro everything she wanted to tell him. However, when Maka saw who was on the other side of the door, only two words managed to escape her lips.

"The fuck?"

* * *

Soul was doing his best to avoid all the awkward that was simmering between the two of them, and it really wasn't working out for him. Even if it seemed like there wasn't much making him uncomfortable, he wasn't really sure what the proper protocol was for hanging around a girl whose face you ruthlessly attacked the week before in what one could only assume was a fit of out of whack hormones.

He noticed Maka reaching for a plant, most likely to get out a spare key (people need to come up with less obvious hiding places) and he was about to say something when she paused.

"Maybe I should just knock this time."

Soul remembered when she told him of her fun adventure in her and Hiro's apartment when she snuck in a while ago, but he hadn't realized she just used a spare key to unlock the place. He figured the door was open already or something. At least this time it wouldn't be like a mission impossible dilemma.

"Good call, idiot," he smirked, but was soon taken by surprise with a giant hardcover book smacking him on the head, "Ow! Where the hell did that book come from?"

"Don't concern yourself with that! I always have a book when someone is being mean and needs a chop!"

Soul pouted and rubbed his head where the sore spot was, turning back to the door and waiting for her to knock. Instead of Maka's hand reaching for the door, foot steps were sounding closer and closer to where the duo awaited. Soul could see the palpable fear overtake Maka's face, but when the door opened, before Soul even looked over to see Hiro, he saw Maka's look of terror turn into one of plain confusion.

"The fuck?" he heard her spit out. His eyes widened- he wasn't expecting her to react that way. Quickly, Soul turned to get a look at the infamous Hiro and was pleased to say- ahem, indifferent to say...

Hiro was one ugly piece of ass.

"I'll repeat myself- What. The. Actual. Fuck." Maka stood, dumbfounded and awaiting a response from anyone.

"FOOLS!" the pale short man with a tall top hat screamed, poiting his cane at Maka and Soul one by one. "You assume I would wait for you to knock, but what you did not account for is that I have my morning tea every day at 7 and 10 precisely, and it is 10:02, and I am in the midst of drinking my tea in the kitchen, which is in earshot of the front door, meaning I could hear visitors. You should have known that, fools."

Soul tilted his head to the side, wondering what sort of joke this was supposed to be and why on earth Maka was engaged to someone so... old and weird. "But dude how would I know when your morning tea is-"

"FOOLS! It's because I just told you. It's at 7 and 10 precisely. Were you not listening?" The cane was now poking Soul in the nose.

"Can you stop poking me please?"

The short pale man removed his can from Soul's nose and positioned it back on the ground, "Why would you say that to someone who isn't poking you in the nose?"

"YOU JUST WERE!" Soul argued, pointing to his nose as if making a point.

"Perhaps you need my spectacles more than I do. Clearly, my cane is on the ground."

"Soul, don't argue with this guy- he's making no sense," Maka chimed in, eyeing down the creep in the white top hat.

"Cents? Of course I don't make cents, I make dollars where I work. You must need a new job if they pay you in pennies."

Soul was just as confused as Maka, but her face looked a few shades redder with anger and she was about three steps closer to punching this dude. At this point Soul was pretty sure this wasn't Hiro, and if it was he couldn't fathom why Maka would be crying the day he found her after the wedding fell through. If anyone was upset over not having to marry this thing, he questioned their sanity.

"Who are you?" Maka hissed through clenched teeth.

"I'm someone who is polite enough to introduce who I am before asking for others' names is who I am."

Maka face-palmed, leaving Soul to take matters into his own hands before his friend blew up, "Hi, I'm Soul Evans and this is Maka Albarn and we are here searching for the man who goes by the name of Hiro. What is your name and what business do you have being here?"

_There. Covered all the bases._

"Oh, that's more like it. I am Excalibur and I am here because I always have my 10 o'clock tea here."

"THAT'S IT, WHERE THE FUCK IS HIRO AND WHY THE FUCK IS A FUCKING WHITE CRAYON LIVING IN THIS APARTMENT?"

Soul had to bite his lips to keep from laughing- which for him hurt more than it should due to his sharp teeth. He endured the pain though because laughing at something like that would definitely come across as rude, and at the moment he clearly couldn't rely on Maka being the polite one. Only a few moments of completely awkward silence followed before the 'white crayon' spoke up.

"Well, normally I do not associate myself with people who greet strangers so _rudely _but I suppose I shall tell you my tale. You see, it started two weeks ago while I was purchasing condoms in the local convenience store-"

"Whoa! We really didn't need to know that!" Soul screeched, cutting Excalibur off and turning his head with his eyes screwed shut and waving his hand as if shielding his eyes from a horrid sight. The damage was done though, and the mental image of this creepy guy buying condoms was forever engraved in their heads.

"Really? I believe it was the appropriate amount of information. You see, I set up my tale with where I was and my reason for being there as well as the general time period between then and now. In fact, I believe I have given you the perfect amount of information."

Maka shook her head in confusion, "But why are you telling us about your cond-"

"Fools! You didn't listen to my story long enough for that question to be answered. Anyway, you see my tale began two weeks ago while I was purchasing condoms in the local convenience store, and my eye happened upon a flyer for an apartment being leased. Naturally, it would be convenient to have an apartment to be able to bring women back to in order to use these condoms."

"Wait, why would you buy condoms if you didn't have a place to bang girls in?" Maka glared at Soul's wording, but Excalibur continued anyway.

"I don't think you understand; I saw a flyer for an apartment. You see, I intended to buy that apartment."

Soul shook his head, "But if you _hadn't-"_

_"_But I did, did I not? You do not listen very well my good shark boy."

"HEY!"

"Anyway, I happened across the flyer and immediately dropped the condoms I was purchasing into the shopping cart of the old woman waiting in line in front of me. I then came to this apartment and spoke with the previous owner."

"So then what?" Maka asked, ignoring the fact this creep defaced an old woman's shopping cart.

"Isn't it obvious? I live here now. I rent it from Mr. Hiro."

"Where can I find Hiro then?" Maka asked, crossing her arms.

"Fool! Clearly not here!" This exclamation was followed by the door slamming in their faces promptly. With eyes wide and mouths hanging open, Maka and Soul took a full minute to realize what had just happened.

"What an odd old man who appears to have more sex than me..."

"Soul please shut up. That's information I really don't need to know."

Soul shrugged, but after noticing Maka's expression pushed a matter, "Hey, what are you gonna do now about getting your stuff? Do you think he still has it?"

Maka tapped her chin and started walking back towards the elevator. "Yeah, I think he put it somewhere I can get to it. If we leave now we can get there before it closes. Let's just hope _she _isn't there."

Soul tilted his head in confusion at the ambiguity of Maka's proclamation, but followed her towards the destination anyway. After all, he had nothing else to really do.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Fun drinking game: take a shot every time I say I'll update more and then end up taking like a month (I'm really sorry). As I said it's college applying season and I've been stressed. But as hard as it is for me to update trust me when I say I won't leave this story unfinished!**

**I also went back and fixed _some_ of the contrasting information and plot/grammar mistakes ('some' meaning the ones I could find). They were just too noticeable. Thanks for reading everyone! So sorry for being a lazy writer!**

* * *

Chapter 8: Interruptions 

The stench of perfume filled his nostrils but he powered through, following the familiar pair of ash blond pigtails through this vacant-looking building. He was confused because he heard the beat of loud music blaring from somewhere close, but the giant warehouse they stood in appeared legitimately empty.

"It's a storage center," Maka explained as if sensing Soul's confusion, "that just so happens to be located above an underground strip club."

It took a few minutes for this little fact to process through his brain, but after following Maka through a few dark hallways with cold and dirty floors, he finally understood exactly what she just said.

"Wait… so this is a strip club?" Weird, all he saw around him were a bunch of locked doors.

"No, idiot." She sighed dramatically, "History time," Soul nodded even though she was in front of him and couldn't see his confirmation. It didn't matter though, because she was informing him of his historical idiocy and ignorance whether he wanted her to or not. "In the sixties," she continued, "This entire place was a giant… brothel…" she shuddered, uncomfortable with being in the same space as numerous forbidden sexual acts were held decades ago, "But once those kinds of things stopped being so acceptable, it was shut down. An older woman who ran the place, named 'Pumpkin', felt bad that the girls had to lose their jobs when it was all they had. It was a shady business but she treated the girls as well as a woman in her position could. She decided to instead convert the place into a strip club in the lower levels that used to be a bar, and kept the upper rooms for storage. So the business has been passed down the family for generations."

Soul shook his head, unsure, "So you're saying that the person who owns this runs both a storage house and a strip club?" That explained the blaring music in the distance and the stench of perfume that could either be from the club or just the lingering stench of what occurred in these rooms years ago.

"Pretty much. It's Pumpkin's granddaughter that runs the place now. Super sweet but _super _annoying."

"Sounds familiar," Soul smirked.

"Wipe that grin off your face, I'm not nearly as sweet as you imply," she hissed without turning around.

This remark only caused Soul to grin further, but he held his tongue knowing that he was only one snarky comment away from a dent in his skull via book. He didn't know where she hid those hardcovers on her, she just did.

"Wait, does this mean that this storage unit you and Hiro use was once a room used for vigorous sex?"

Maka froze and turned around, a shocked and grossed-out look crossing her face. "Ew! I never thought of that!"

Soul started laughing uncontrollably as Maka shivered from disgust and started walking again while muttering obscenities under her breath. When she finally paused in front of a room, she stared at the door knob for a few moments before retrieving a key from her pocket.

"When did you-"

"I got it from the plant outside our apartment when we met that Excalibur creep."

"Ah, very ninja of you," Soul noted under Maka's glare as she whispered something about him being a nerd under her breath.

She was still frozen after shoving the key into the lock.

"What's wrong, is it not opening?" Soul asked as he leaned over her shoulder and stared at the door knob.

"Um… It's not that. Can I- can I borrow your sweatshirt?"

Soul gave her a confused look before relenting and shaking off his black sweatshirt and handing it over, ignoring the quick chill that the empty hall in the storage house blanketed him with. "Here."

She smiled gratefully and took his sweatshirt. He always heard the rumor from his older brother about how girls stole sweatshirts and wore them. He thought it was kind of cute actually- the idea of girls getting chilly and wearing a sweatshirt that was too big for them and then returning them with the scent of strawberry shampoo imprinted on the sweatshirt and-

"WHAT THE HELL WOMAN?" he screeched when he noticed that Maka was not, in fact, putting the sweatshirt on herself in a cutesy romcom way but instead using it as a glove-like barrier between her hand and the knob to open the door.

"I don't wanna touch sixties-era sex germs!" Maka retaliated, as if that was explanation enough for why she was deflowering his innocent sweatshirt on a crusty and germ-covered doorknob.

"Why didn't you use your own sleeve?" he groaned, grossed out and wondering how many washes it would take to undo the damage Maka's own selfishness caused his favorite sweatshirt.

"'Cause," she frowned, "This is a gentleman's duty."

Soul shook his head as she opened the door to her and Hiro's storage unit. He knew that there was no way in Hell that common curtesy dictated the dude's sweatshirt be used as the barrier between hand and sex-coated doorknob, and that Maka was pulling this information up out of nowhere, but it was too late to stop her from applying this made-up theory of ridiculous gender roles now.

"Fuck you, Albarn," he whimpered as she tossed his sweatshirt behind her shoulder for him to catch. He stared at the black sweatshirt in his hands and dropped it to the floor.

He'd pick it up before they left.

As Maka switched on the single light in the room, Soul looked around at what was in the once-sex chamber-turned-storage unit and frowned a bit. It was a lot of stuff. Way too much for them to both carry. In fact, amongst the piles of picture frames, boxes, and fancy looking plates and candle-holders he assumed there was enough crap for them to decorate a mansion. Why would two newlyweds need so much stuff anyway? Her and Hiro must have lived pretty well-off for this much stuff to be in their _storage room. _Soul barely had anything worth value in his apartment, so the concept of needing to buy a place to put extra stuff that cost money but won't be used seemed so… _privileged _to him.

"Did you think about how we're going to carry all your stuff without something to wheel it around with? And shouldn't we- like- have borrowed someone's car?" Maka frowned at Soul's assessment before stepping over a brass globe of the earth and towards the corner of the crappishly-lit room. She bent over, and to obtain his boyish modesty Soul made sure to look away rather than check out what he (despite himself) admitted was one of Maka's best features. Then again, he didn't want to label himself as an ass-man (which he totally was) so he made intense eye contact with a porcelain doll on the opposite side of the room instead.

"You two really have too much stuff," Soul noted as he crossed his arms, "We shoulda asked Blackstar to help us carry your crap."

She sighed loudly, and Soul took that as his cue to turn around to look at her once again. She stood, defeated looking, and holding one end of a long single box of what appeared to be useless junk. The box was large, he'd admit it, but the fact of the matter is that one person's life shouldn't be able to fit into a single box.

The look on her face told him all he needed to know though; that was all she had.

"That's it?" he asked with disbelief. Even _he _had more than that laying around his apartment and he didn't even _try _to keep stuff of importance.

She smiled sadly, "Everything else of mine wasn't bought with my own money. I usually put away my salary into a savings account since his family _insisted _I wouldn't need to work another day in my life after I married Hiro. So everything I ever used technically isn't mine."

Soul unconsciously clenched his fists, "So he isn't going to let you have any of your stuff?"

Maka shrugged, "It looks like my clothes and books are in here. That's all I really have. Besides," she seemed more understanding of Hiro than angry, "I'm sure to him this is all I wanted back. He's kind of right."

Maka lifted up one end and looked at Soul expectantly. He stared back at her until she piped up, "This place closes in twenty minutes, y'know."

"Oh!" he jumped a bit in his spot once realizing her request and walked over to lift up the other side of the box. She gave him a reassuring smile, knowing very well that he was having a harder time understanding her and Hiro's weird ass relationship than she was, and together they lifted the box. It was a little heavy, probably the books weighing the box down, but it was manageable.

They exited the room and Maka made sure to close the door with her foot before locking it to avoid the 'sex germs' she was so repulsed by. It wasn't that sex repulsed her as much as the idea of people possibly not being neat about it and all. Part of that was probably why she was still a virgin. The other was her obsession with books and the fact she was engaged to a guy who was more turned on by his own reflection than girls.

That didn't matter though; she should concern herself with learning how to carry such a bulky box while walking backwards. Clearly Soul was inept at this kind of stuff.

* * *

"You okay?" Soul prodded when they turned down the final hallway and neared the exit.

She nodded, looking genuinely content. Soul, however, had learned a lot about Maka and how she worked over the past few weeks. She wasn't okay. "I'm fine! I'm just glad we didn't run into-"

"MAKAAA!"

Maka's eyes screwed shut in regret. Soul could tell she was cursing herself for falling victim to irony. He turned to find the source of Maka's disdain, and was shocked at what his eyes were met with.

"Hey there… Blair," Maka sighed.

Soul's eye widened at the image of perfection in front of him. This girl was tall-taller than him even, and had a rack the size of Blackstar's ego on her. Her hair, while loose and seemingly untamed, remained a stunning silky violet that complimented her golden eyes. She was wearing something that Soul could only consider long enough to qualify as half a pair of shorts and a shimmery black bra.

And the weirdest part of her sexy attire was a pair of purple cat ears she donned atop her silky hair.

"Nyah! Maka, who's the cutie?" Blair winked as she nudged Maka, effectively making her grip on the box weaken a bit and causing Maka to huff and puff her way to catching her balance before the contents of the box fell everywhere.

"Blair! This is very heavy and I am very emotionally unstable right now!"

_Oh, so now she admits it, _Soul frowned. She should have just said something earlier.

"Aw! But I wanna meet your new friend!" the catlike woman pouted, sauntering over to the white-haired boy and pressing a leather-clad boob against his face. He blushed deeply, trying to look anywhere but at the _very _mature woman's cleavage that rested against his face.

"Hey pervert, get off the other pervert dammit!" Maka dropped her end of the box which winded Soul and caused him to let go as well, and therefore lose all contact with the awesome softness that was just pressed against his face. Clever girl.

"Maka, there's no reason to be upset about your small boobies!"

Soul's eyes widened at Blair's daring words and he eyed Maka to test her reaction. Maka, whose eyes were now filled with the fires of Hell, was winding back her fist to make a punch, but was stopped short by Soul, who lunged over to her to prevent her from hitting this feline freak.

"Aw, my hero!" Blair cackled with her head thrown back. All her laughing caused her cleavage to shake all the more, and Soul was positive that both he and Maka wanted it to end as quickly as possible for two very different reasons.

"Come on Maka," Blair smiled gently, "Let's go to the break room. We have a _lot _of catching up to do."

* * *

Soul looked between the two girls in utter confusion. From what he could gather, Blair was Pumpkin's granddaughter and ran the strip club and storage center as part of her family's legacy. And from what he'd been observing through their small talk, it seemed like Blair genuinely cared for Maka despite her teasing.

That left more questions than answers. First of all, why the hell was Maka so chummy with a strip club owner? Second, why the hell were they in a break room of a strip club with the box of clothes and books- their original purpose for coming here- pressed up against the corner as if they'd be here a while? Third, how was he supposed to concentrate when two girls were on their break and sitting on the couch eating microwaved pasta in their bra and undies?

"Hey, girls," Blair gently pressed, "Would you mind using the lounge instead for today? No one booked it tonight so it should be empty." The two girls looked between Blair's serious expression and Maka's ready-to-burst tear ducts and got the message. They gathered up their stuff and grabbed two sodas from the fridge before exiting the breakroom and leaving the three remaining occupants in a cloud of silence.

"What happened?" Blair asked, her tone morphed into something more compassionate than Soul ever thought he'd head coming from someone like her. Then again, he'd been learning lately not to judge people based on their appearance- something Maka was an express example of.

Maka bit her lip, clearly denying herself the right to cry and let it out. She simply quivered and crossed her arms protectively over herself while looking down at the table.

"I don't know."

Blair made a face, one Soul couldn't decipher for the life of him, and without another word she grabbed Maka and brought her to her chest, cradling her much akin to how a mother would hold a child to them after learning they were being picked on at school. Essentially, she was shielding her.

"Was it Hiro?" Blair's question caused Maka to burst out into gross sobs, making Soul's eyes widen because he never _ever _thought he'd see this side of her. When he saw her on the steps that one day she was crying, but it wasn't so raw, so _vulnerable _like now. Somehow, despite the cries, Maka managed to shake her head.

"It isn't Hiro?" Blair frowned with her eyes knitting in confusion, "Then what is it?"

Maka brought her small hand up to Blair collar and clutched at it, a desperate motion that did not go unnoticed by the other two occupants in the room.

"Why do they always end up doing things like this?" Maka whimpered. It was a vague comment, one that Soul couldn't assess. But through his observation of Blair's reaction to this statement and the way she held Maka impossibly closer, it appeared the purple-haired heiress was aware of Maka's implications. "Why do they always act like they're happy and okay with who you are, and then go and ruin it?"

Soul opened his mouth to ask something, _anything _just to make things clearer, but he shut his mouth when he noticed Blair look at him and shake her head as if insisting prying would only make matters worse.

"I thought maybe it wouldn't happen to me… but I'm just as foolish as Mama, aren't I?"

To this, Blair had no response to give, and only let Maka cry it out. Soul furrowed his brows, unsure if he missed the part of this all that made sense. He knew Maka was upset when she realized that all she had to her name was a box of sweaters and books- but still, he didn't think she'd break down like this. Yet in an odd turn of events, he was stuck with her in the break room of an underground strip club after going to the adjoined storage unit as Maka cried her eyes out.

He sat there for a few minutes, listening to the worst sound he's ever had the displeasure of hearing- Maka's crying- and waited for it to simmer down. It eventually did.

"Sorry," she sniffed as she lifted her head from Blair's chest. She frowned, "Damn those things for being so cushiony."

Soul smiled a little, glad to see his friend coming back to her old ways. She announced that she was going to the bathroom to wash her face, and Blair insisted she go use the employee's only one.

"Don't want you stepping through old guy puke just to wash your face," Blair explained. Once Maka was gone, the silence returned to fill the void left by Maka's lack of loud sobbing.

"So, uh," He started, unsure of how to breech the topic at hand, "How-"

"Maka came here a lot when she was little." Blair's eyes widened when she realized her wording could have been a lot better, "WAIT! Not like that! You see, her mom traveled a lot and was barely home and her parents had a lot of issues. Her dad came here a lot and when Maka found out, she had a tendency to follow him. She was so young and the girls here and I didn't want her to see what her dad was up to so whenever she came her we kept her in separate rooms and gave her coloring books and stuff to occupy herself. We lied and said that this was a place for mommies and daddies to go when they wanted to learn how to dance..."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Soul snorted. When Blair threw a quick glare at him, he stifled his laughter.

"I know it was a bad lie," she admitted, "But she kept asking about the music and sparkly outfits we all had on. It was the only plausible thing to tell her. Eventually she grew old enough to figure it out since she was always a bright one, but she still came hoping to one day be able to catch her father in the act. Her parents filed for divorce but never went through with it, and eventually Spirit stopped coming and her mom stopped traveling so much. Still, Maka's not going to get over how lonely she was any time soon."

Soul took a deep breath. This explained a lot, actually. It was a good enough reason for why Maka was so ready to rush into a marriage she didn't really want and the reason she was so hard to crack open. She clearly had major trust issues from her parents' crappy marriage and the fact her and Hiro had developed such an estranged relationship must have made the impact ten times worse. Not to mention how Hiro was handling all of this…

"She'll be okay though," he assured the woman sitting across from him as he looked down at the table and played with his fingers awkwardly.

"So, uh, you never told me how you know Maka."

Oh, right. Blair was probably more confused than he was at this point, and since she shared her side of the story it was only fair that he did the same in return.

"I kind of came across her crying after being dumped on her wedding day." Blair's eyes widened and she smacked both of her manicured hands across her mouth to smother the gasp she released. Apparently she wasn't quite sure what Maka's situation with Hiro was until now. "As you can see, he left her stuff in their storage unit, hence why we're here."

Blair shook her head, nonplussed, "W-what happened?"

Soul shrugged, and was reluctant to admit to himself this woman's dramatic concern towards Maka relieved him. "Maka claims she doesn't really give a shit about it and she's always defending Hiro. In a way I guess she's just seeing both sides of the spectrum. Still, I know it's gotta hurt especially after learning the shit she went through as a kid. This probably digs at a lot of old scars."

Blair nodded. "Where is she staying?" Soul frowned at Blair's assumption that Maka wouldn't be at her apartment. It's almost like everyone already knew that Hiro had dibs on everything the two of them once 'shared'.

"She's crashing at my place." He quickly sensed the uneasiness in Blair's eyes, "Don't worry, I'm not doing anything sketchy. She just sleeps on my couch. We're friends."

Blair nodded slowly, as if testing the validity of his claims through the atmosphere. "If Maka trusts you enough then you deserve the same from me. I always knew she'd end up with some slummy asshole," Blair smirked, the vivid tease in her coming back to life.

"Hey! First of all, we didn't 'end up' together, okay? F-r-i-e-n-d-s. Got it? Second of all I am a successful businessman who happens to be taking a break from my field!" Soul stuck his tongue out like a child to which she replied by doing the same. Only when Blair stuck her tongue out she made she to lick her lips slowly afterwards with a wink added for effect. What a joke. He decided he liked the light-hearted seductress side better than the overprotective mom; at least for him, anyway. He liked the fact Maka had someone looking after her- whether it be a stripper or not.

Blair seemed nice, but the fact of the matter was that she was brutally honest before anything else. She informed him of Maka's past without a second thought and Soul wondered if he should even be privy to such information.

The two of them went on and off for a while about their mutual friend. They discussed her cuter habits as well as her more violent ones. To Soul's surprise, Blair was extremely educated and wise, and managed to dissect Maka very well. She informed him that she hated relying on others and often shielded herself from attachment, which explained why she was so willing to marry a guy who she saw as no more than a decent friend. It also explained why she pushed those she cared for away and instead gravitated towards strangers.

This scared Soul because it was clear he was starting to become something more than a stranger to Maka. He didn't want her pushing him away like she apparently did to other people who cared about her. As if sensing how hard the last topic was for Soul to grasp, Blair shook her head.

"You're forgetting all the people that fight hard enough to hold onto her."

Soul considered this. She mentioned that Kid dude and his two assistants a lot; they seemed close. And Black Star and Tsubaki clearly would refuse to let Maka push them away. Even Blair herself appeared reluctant to let Maka go.

If they could make her stay, then so could he.

"You know, you seem to really care about her," Blair pointed out, a knowing smile playing at her plump lips.

"I guess," he answered. The flush on his cheeks could have been from the heat of the room or the exertion of carrying that box, but he had a feeling Blair was smarter than that.

Before the catwoman could press him for any more details about his situation with Maka, the door opened and Maka walked in, her eyes looking redder than they did when she left. If she was aware of how bad she looked she didn't say anything.

"We should probably go," Maka choked out in a small voice, causing Blair to bite her lip and make a concerned face.

"Yeah, it's not too far of a walk home but it's going to get dark pretty fast," Soul pointed out, standing up.

Blair stood and dragged Maka into a bone-crushing hug, "Be good, okay." Maka smiled lightly despite herself and nodded.

"Bye bye, Soul Baby." Soul shivered at the nickname and grabbed one side of Maka's box before Blair could try suffocating him with her breasts again, and Maka quickly picked up the other side, sensing her friend's growing fear of Blair's womanly features. Just as they were leaving through the backdoor Maka turned around and, unsure of what she was about to do, blurted out a ten-digit number.

"T-that's my new cellphone number. Call me whenever you want to meet up or something."

Blair grinned, "Gotcha babe."

* * *

Soul finally understood what was happening to him. It all seemed cliché, and he _never _was one to believe in concepts of "fate" and "destiny", but he never really had much of a purpose until now, and neither did Maka.

It seemed that he had some half-baked dream of setting off his stupid movie idea and she had fears of growing close to others. And somehow, against all odds, they were starting to help each other with their personal problems.

That night the two of them were very quiet, but not in as depressing of a manner as Soul would have assumed. Maka insisted they work on his movie idea, saying that the quicker they got it finalized the quicker he'd stop smelling like coffee beans, which she blushed upon analyzing. The whole night consisted of helpful thoughts, notes being jotted down, sketches being drawn, and concepts being discussed. Maka was crazy creative and, in a way, Soul knew he should feel threatened by this. In the end though it just made him grateful she was there to help.

He noticed her start to smile more throughout the night, and she even asked if they could order a pizza.

"Ugh, your bad behavior is really rubbing off on me."

He let out a soft chuckle and stood up from his spot on the floor beside the coffee table, rubbing his knees to stretch them out. With a roll of his shoulders he walked over to where he left his cellphone on the counter and dialed up a number he had long since memorized.

"Hiya, can I have a large cheese-" he glanced over his shoulder and waited for Maka to give him a nod of approval, "-cheese pie for delivery?"

Maka beamed and doodled on one of the sketches as he gave the address. Soul walked back over and plopped himself on the opposite side of the couch that Maka was on and laid until he was flat on his back, "We're making a lot of progress with this."

She hummed in agreement, "Yeah, we are. It's impressive. I just wonder how easy it will be to take off. You seem to be putting a lot of faith in this, Soul."

He nodded, "That's 'cause I know it's a winner. We just gotta wait until someone can see that."

She didn't answer. In fact, she was silent for a good minute after he said that. Soul rolled over a little were he laid and stared up into her eyes.

"You okay?"

It took a minute, and for a scary second Soul swore she was going to cry. Contrary to his expectations, Maka slowly lifted her head up and down in some sad semblance of affirmation. "Yeah, I'll be okay."

A small frown rested on his lips but he didn't want to get too pushy with questioning her directly.

"Is it what happened before?" He couldn't tell her exactly how much Blair told him, but he was kind of wishing Maka would just give it up and tell him herself.

She released a long, heavy sigh laden with the burdens of her past before allowing a small nod. "Yeah. I know Blair told you."

Soul winced, and felt a pang of guilt enter his heart. _Busted. _

"It's fine though. I'm glad you know. It's just that every once in a while being reminded of it just makes me think of how pointless everything I've done until now is. I haven't done anything to leave my mark on the world, so it's really easy for people to grow bored of me just like my papa grew bored of my mama."

Testing his luck, Soul sat up and made the mistake of looking in her eyes. She was tearing up.

"Are you oka-"

"I'M FINE OH MY GOSH JUST EAT YOUR DAMN PIZZA!"

Soul nodded quickly and shoved an entire slob of cheesy bread in his mouth; an angry Maka was nothing to joke about. She didn't like exposing her feelings too much and he knew she had a complex when it came to showing her weaker emotions. He just wanted to help, but clearly she had exposed her vulnerable side too much today.

As Soul tried to swallow the glob of food in his mouth, Maka looked back down at her paper and twirled a pencil in one of her pigtails. "Y'know this is just about ready to go."

"Be Ibea?" Soul sputtered out, causing Maka to wince at the little pizza-based spittle that came flying out of his mouth.

"Ew… and yes, the idea. Your entire concept is just about wrapped up as well as an outline for a decent plot. The very minor details aren't done but we have to leave something for the people that will actually be making the movie if it passes. So anytime you want to try and pitch this updated version I think you're just about ready to go."

Soul tapped his chin, the pizza fully swallowed by this point. "Shouldn't you come with me? We're co-creators now; it would be unfair to not have you by my side. I _want _you by my side."

Maka blushed heavily and crossed her pigtails over her face just before throwing a notebook at Souls face.

"Ooph!"

"Don't say things like that you idiot!"

Soul grinned, a sense of mischief filling his mind. "Oh no, did I scare you? Do you fear I'm seducing you?"

"Yes! Have some decency!" Maka huffed, but was clearly amused by his joking. They had been working a while and his sense of humor was removing the stress all the hard work had bestowed upon her.

He grinned before dramatically flipping his hair like a teenage heartthrob in some young adult romance movie, "Sorry, I forget how tempting my charms can be sometimes. It's difficult not to seduce people when you're just this good looking."

Maka smiled and rolled her eyes, "Ah yes, the sharp teeth and old person hair is _such _a turn on. I'm trying not to drop my panties right here right now.

Soul, attempting to keep the lightened mood running to avoid her thinking about her father and the embarrassment from earlier today, continued his joke.

"Maybe it's the sauce all over my face that makes me so irresistible." He scooted closer to her and picked up a napkin that was sitting next to her; he began patting down the splotches of sauce. She laughed lightly as he wiped the abundance of pizza remains off of his face.

"It's either that, or the fact you just took my used napkin."

Soul wiggled his eyebrows, "Ooh lala, an indirect kiss. I _knew _Maka Albarn was a germaphobe."

She shrugged, "It's not like it's me using another person's napkin… it's your mouth getting all germy. Have fun with that."

He plopped himself directly next to her on the couch and waved the napkin in front of her face, "But since it's used by me now too you'd be grossed out, right?"

"Ew! I take back everything I said! You are so _not _sexy!"

"Take that back! I am the definition of a stud!" He brought the napkin closer to her and made a suggestive face. Maka squealed and fell back into the corner of the couch as she desperately waved the napkin away. "Ew!"

"What happened to me being a turn on?" he asked in a sultry voice. He felt kind of like Scarlett Johansson and didn't know whether it should be insulting to his masculinity that he was doing a good job at recreating the persona of any sexy seductress or undercover spy in a low budget movie. But it seemed to be doing the trick well enough because it was about ten seconds too late when he realized that he was actually doing too good of a job at invading Maka's personal space. She was wide-eyed, those green irises occupying more space than usual, and she seemed shocked at his close proximity despite the fact they both knew he was teasing. If it wasn't for the greasy napkin he was holding between them, though, their position could be considered far less than modest.

Soul knew he should back off; it would be the only proper thing to do under social protocol. He should lean away, apologize, place the napkin on the table and suggest getting back to work or going to sleep and calling it a day. He should have done that.

But Soul was an asshole, self-proclaimed.

It was amazing how with them, a discussion about cooties and fake seduction could turn into this; but their lips met so naturally that it was impossible to know for sure who initiated it. All Soul knew was that Maka's lips were soft and warm, oddly akin to those garlic knots she's really good at making. It only made the pizza residue on Soul's lips feel more at place. Soul mentally scolded himself for comparing kissing a hot girl to a garlic knot when he should have been actively enjoying it.

Maka sure seemed like she was. He knew she rarely liked to demonstrate closeness with others. Her isolation was the reason he really discovered her in the first place. But now, she was throwing all caution to the wind, fearlessly pressing her lips against his and leaning towards him as if there was no shame to be had. This was their second kiss. They were in tune with it.

Somehow Soul knew he was the one overthinking it this time. He knew that there had to be a reason it was so easy to give in when she lowered her lips to his jaw. He knew that there was something in him causing him to let out a quiet groan when she nibbled on his neck. He knew that some force was at play making him clutch her hips the way he was. This was nothing like the first time. It wasn't slightly awkward with a hint of excitement and shock. It moving so quickly for just two people that still considered themselves to be simply friends, but somehow it was too easy.

Soul needed to breathe, but was too preoccupied with the long pair of legs scandalously running themselves along his and _holy fuck aforementioned legs are wrapping around him._

She was definitely too innocent to have ever done something like this before so Soul was sure Maka based her actions off of corny romance novels (she was a bookworm after all) or maybe crappy movie adaptions of them.

Soul took a deep and heavy breath as he felt her hands rest on his chest before clutching his shirt and pulling him down to meet her lips with more force. "You're such an idiot…"

He didn't question why she randomly insulted him in the midst of this heated ordeal, and he didn't really understand what she was saying at the moment either. He was too focused on the feeling of her mouth on his and her chest pressed against his own to bother making out what her words meant.

"You taste like pizza, it's disgusting," she scolded. He'd believe her act more if she hadn't promptly followed her assessment with grabbing the back of his neck and pulling him further towards her, raking the other hand down his back gently. He let out a squeaky noise that would have embarrassed him had he not been so high on the drug called Maka; and he was expecting a million things to happen in the next few seconds.

What he did not expect, however, was for the door to burst open to reveal the oh-so-annoying legend himself with his stupid blue hair and his stupid cocky grin and his stupid bad timing.

"It is I, the great Blackstar! I am here to- HOLY SHITMUFFINS ARE YOU TWO GETTIN' BUSY OH MY GOD OH MY GOD! MY EYES MY EYES ARE BURNING OH MY GOD! WHAT THE FUCKITY FUCK IT HAPPENING!"

By this point Maka and Soul had detached themselves and were on opposite sides of the couch with looks of embarrassment and feigned innocence plastered on their faces.

"We're screwed," Soul whispered quietly as Blackstar went on screaming about his burning eyes and disbelief.

Good news: Blackstar was alone right now. Bad news: Blackstar wasn't one to keep a secret.

* * *

It wasn't usual for him to visit the storage unit he kept his possessions in. It was just full of old crap and family heirlooms his parents forced onto him in a desperate attempt to inflate his ego to match theirs. He didn't want all the material stuff they gloated about; it was useless to him. He didn't _want _to be like his parents. He just wanted to be a normal person with a job and friends and hopefully a girlfriend.

He kind of threw that last one out the window though. He sighed as he turned the key into the storage unit; he really shouldn't be going through all this trouble just to make sure Maka got her stuff but he knew it was important to her. She liked to carry her own weight and he knew that if she were to get her box it would be because someone must have forced her to suck up her pride. He admired that about her, but it was also one of the many reasons he had to break it off with her. She was just too blatantly obvious with her stubborn nature. She made it clear she didn't love him, and she made it clear she didn't appreciate his family. But that was why he liked her so much. She saw him as Hiro and not the son of a wealthy business-oriented family. She liked to split rent and preferred keeping for herself what she could afford and nothing more. She was independent by heart and he knew it pissed Maka off when his parents tried to persuade her to be a housewife. It just wasn't Maka's cup of tea.

He didn't want to marry someone so his family could get closer to the renowned Kid and his successful hotel line, or the other connections Maka provided. He didn't want to marry someone when he was so young because he knew she was just stupid enough to do it since she didn't see too much of a reason not to. She was rather indifferent towards the marriage and he knew that. He couldn't go through with it; he couldn't force her into something she didn't want (even if she didn't realize it) and he couldn't give into his parent's wishes. By now he was decently sure she saw both their mistakes though.

When the door to the storage unit finally surrendered to his twisting of the key in the lock, Hiro immediately glanced into the corner where he left the box and smiled softly when he noticed it was no longer there. At least she had her things now. He was glad.

With the guilt of Maka not having what she worked so hard to afford _finally_ off his chest, he knew now he'd be better prepared to finally meet Maka again. Soon, he promised himself. He'd set things straight and let her know how he felt honestly, without the input of his parents or the feeling of forced marriage. He wanted her honest opinion of them and her consent at whatever form of a relationship between them she wanted, which would probably be just friendship.

His smile lasted about ten seconds before he stumbled upon something on the floor… something he was sure wasn't there when he had last been in the room and something he was definitely sure wasn't his own. He leaned down and picked it up, eyes widening upon realizing the meaning behind the object.

A sweatshirt. A male's sweatshirt that he had never seen before.

_Oh._

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello! First of all, I really want to thank everyone who has been reading this. This story has more followers than any story I've put up here so far. The reviews have meant _so _much to me and really make me smile; they're all sososo sweet so thank you to everyone who reviewed. **

**Concerning the story- let me say one thing: I do not like love triangles and unrequited love. Clearly many people can write them out very well and meaningfully, but I am not one of these people. Sorry if that's what has been expected but I just can't write those situations well :(**

**Thanks SOSOSO much for reading!**

* * *

Chapter 9: Through the Window

"So that… that's the story."

Soul took a deep breath and released the anxious feeling he was latching on to, accounted for by the fear of royally fucking up. Of course it was a possibility he could still say something wrong, but the hard part was over. Now it was time to schmooze up. Luckily he had Maka by his side, and she wasn't only good for helping create the idea they were trying to sell- Soul had come to learn she was a _major_ kiss-ass.

"Thank you _so _much for listening to our idea. It really means a lot. We know that there are some spots here and there with available area for creative freedom, and that's what you are for."

The woman they had been pitching their idea to nodded, seeming to enjoy the idea of being the one with control over the movie. She possessed a threatening quality, making Soul extremely nervous and fidgety at first, but Maka gave him a glare when he had started stuttering, and his fear of his blond roommate far outweighed his fear of this potential buyer and boss.

"I like the idea, I must say. We've been meaning to reach out to younger audiences as of late but finding ideas that still hold meaning while captivating children is a difficult quality to find. It also happens to be one of the many feats of your story line. I like that."

Soul looked relieved and slightly constipated- a face Maka deemed the "I'm trying to not be a barista anymore please help me" face. Maka, on the other hand, considered this woman's words to be the best news they've gotten in a while. She couldn't help but allow herself a small smile.

"We're glad you think this idea is worth something, then."

The woman nodded at Maka's words. "Oh yes. I'll have to discuss with my crew if we're able to take on your idea but I'm going to give you an informal yes. It's a matter of smoothing out some details and going through formalities, but don't bother pitching this idea to anyone else. I'm calling dibs," the woman winked playfully and Maka laughed forcefully (she really was a good kiss-ass) and Soul managed to choke on nothing but air.

"Thank you, Mrs. Medusa. This really means a lot," Maka chirped, clasping her hands together.

"Here, I'll write you up a deposit. Think of it as insurance that we're taking your idea very seriously." Medusa snatched a check from the side of her desk and scribbled on it in a smooth way that could only be achieved through practice and repetition.

She held the slip out to Maka, sensing Soul was too jittery to perform any basic functions at the moment. Maka smoothed one of her low-hanging (to be professional, of course) pigtails and straightened her skirt before walking over to the desk and taking the check. She didn't dare eye the number on it in fear of looking desperate or rude.

"Thank you very much for your time. Contact us if you have any questions."

Medusa smiled, "The same goes for you two."

Maka nodded her head politely before making her way to the exit.

"Take care," Soul smiled despite the obvious sweat gathering on his forehead. He was a heaping pile of nervousness but Maka was surprised at how well he was covering it... well, covering it for the most part, at least. She had only been on a few meetings with him, but this one was very important. Medusa was the biggest director and movie-maker in this side of the country, and if she took their idea then they wouldn't have to worry about money any time soon.

Maka internally frowned with self-inflicted confusion at her own thoughts of them worrying about money like a married couple- when had she started to think of them as a pair?

After the elevator door closed behind them, Maka brought the check up to her face and examined it.

"Holy fuck," she breathed out, closing her eyes tightly and reopening them to assure herself this check was valid and she did, in fact, see the right numbers.

She did.

Maka practically shoved the check in Soul's face, to which he whined and leaned back. He sighed at her aggressive nature and leered down at the numbers without much of an expectation in mind. When he did see the numbers, however, his eyes practically bounced out of their sockets.

"Holy shit, this is a lot of dough!"

Maka nodded in agreement, too amazed to even allow her emotions to show on her face. She was wearing a mask of indifference, but Soul knew her well enough by this point to know that she was thrilled.

"This is the best news we've gotten in a while," he noted after a minute of silence. Many other people they met with seemed interested, but Medusa was famous for her great work, and this could be an extremely great gateway for them.

Maka sighed in bliss and rested against the back of the elevator as they neared the ground floor. They made a stop a few floors up though, and to maintain composure, Maka straightened herself up as someone entered the elevator.

The stranger brought into the elevator a sense of discomfort and awkwardness. In the off chance this person was a "somebody" at Medusa's company, Maka knew she had to look professional. She elbowed Soul who was slouching against the wall. He immediately straightened himself up, but gave Maka a quick glare when he did so. The stranger, instead of doing what a normal person would do and walking to the other side of the elevator, positioned themselves right between Soul and Maka, accidentally shoving both in the process.

"Sorry," the person whispered as they eyed the other two occupants of the elevator between strands of choppy pink hair, "I have a fear of elevators. I like to stand between other people when given the chance."

Maka took a deep breath, praying that Soul would handle this well.

* * *

"Okay…" Soul raised an eyebrow in a less than understanding manner.

"If I die in an elevator I wouldn't know how to deal with that."

Maka nodded, "You can never be too safe."

Despite her desperation to have good relations with Medusa and all the workers in her building, Soul found this to be excessive. Living in a city, he had to deal with his fair share of creeps. But in a fancy executive building? Not really.

He did what he always did and shrugged though. The person's head rolled as they slouched and, slightly frightened, Soul changed the subject.

"So Maka what do you wanna do to celebrate?"

Maka smirked, "Maybe McDonald's? It seems like it's saved for special occasions with us."

Soul smiled and rolled his eyes, "As much as I love Mickey D's I have to say we should probably try for something a little nicer. Maybe an actual place that costs over ten dollars for a meal." He was suddenly looking at the wall of the elevator and ignoring all else going on, including Pinkie smudged between them. This was when Maka's forest green eyes widened in realization.

Expensive food… just the two of them… celebrating success…

It sounded an awful lot like a date. A date she _really _wanted to say yes to.

"I'd really li-"

"My mom is a good liar," the pink-haired person whispered quickly, as if not getting the information out right at the moment wasn't an option. "She does it often. She's good at fooling people."

Maka looked like some sad combination of confused and scared, while Soul was more irritated and perplexed. Either way, this person left them both hungry for at least somewhat an explanation.

"Um, I'm sorry about that?" Soul answered in a way that sounded more like a question than condolences. There wasn't much to be said though; they didn't even know this person.

"She fooled you too, I bet."

Maka frowned at the pink-haired person and tilted her head in curiosity, "Who's your mother, then? Do we know her?"

The person shrugged, "She's a nobody. And she's a somebody. These days it's too easy to be both, and I don't know how to deal with that but it is what it is."

The elevator came to a halt and the person stepped off, their black business suit making the swishing sound of fabric rubbing against itself as they exited. They turned to Soul and Maka right before the elevator closed and smiled in a way that Maka had to admit frightened her a bit.

"I'm Crona."

And with that the elevator doors closed leaving Maka and Soul in the enclosed space with nothing but the silence for them to listen to.

"That was fucking creepy," Soul assessed after a moment, to which Maka nodded in agreement. She didn't like not knowing things, especially when she got the feeling it was in her best interest to know. She wasn't about to go back to the floor that person got off on and interrogate them, but she wasn't against asking them about what they meant if she ever did see them again.

"Crona… that's a nice name," Maka decided with a nod. Soul gave her an incredulous look, but said nothing.

* * *

It didn't go according to plan. He was hoping that they'd maybe have a nice night alone out at dinner like a date- no, not _like _a date- like a…

Well it didn't matter now anyway because they had all gone out to that new hip restaurant with the twisty chairs and high glass tables. Not only did Soul's feet not touch the ground, but Blackstar was going on and on about every last damn detail in his life only to be interrupted every five minutes when Kid piped up about something boring and businesslike. It seemed like those two were more hyped up than usual... especially Blackstar and that was _not _fun.

Ugh. Soul really needed a nice long nap.

"So you never really told me how you've been the past couple weeks…" Soul heard Tsubaki whisper to Maka when everyone else at the table was cheering at the television above the bar when their team scored. He didn't really care for that; never really was a sports guy.

He noted the way Maka sighed when Tsubaki fidgeted with her hands under the table. Soul knew Maka was way too proud to admit it, but she was having problems adjusting back to her older lifestyle without the comforts she originally had. She was a "strong independent woman" now (don't tell Maka he thought of that with quotations).

"I'm fine, really. What about you? How've you and the idiot been doing, hm?" Tsubaki's slightly false smile gave away the fact she knew Maka was avoiding the question, but she was obliging for now.

"We're doing well. He's been acting weird lately though, and I'm not sure why. It's like he's trying to avoid me but not wanting to at the same time."

"Hm, that's odd of the idiot," Maka noted, seemingly just as perplexed as Tsubaki. Soul's eyes widened though, wondering if this meant what he thought it did. He glanced over to Blackstar who was shaking Kid with great force as something happened on the television.

"YES! WE'RE SO GONNA WIN THIS ONE!"

Soul never understood why people infatuated with sports used the plural "we" as if they were playing it themselves. He glanced at the screen.

Soccer. He knew the basics. Ball-kicking and goals. He knew Blackstar liked it. He knew Blackstar pretty well.

Which made him wonder if what he was thinking about the blue-haired idiot could be the truth then.

* * *

Hiro sighed, wondering if this was the right thing to do. He was a pretty moral guy when it came to most things. He always donated when asked to add additional money to his total by a cashier, he always held open doors for strangers, and he donated blood every year. He did everything he could to be an upstanding person, but for some reason this felt wrong.

He didn't mean for this to happen, really. He had just been walking past the new trendy restaurant towards his bank when she caught his eye. Her ashy hair caught a light and reflected in a flashy manner, causing him to look over in curiosity. He stopped dead in his tracks when he recognized her through the window, sitting at a table.

So she really was doing fine without him, after all.

Hiro glanced around the table, recognizing all the faces… Tsubaki, Blackstar, Patty, Liz, Kid… well, _almost _all of the faces. There was some creepy looking guy with blood-like eyes and snow-white hair. He looked like some lame anime character, but even Hiro had to admit the guy was pretty damn attractive. It was a stretch, but he wondered if there was anything going on between this guy and Maka.

That's when he saw it. A guy's oversized forest-green coat resting on Maka's shoulders. She seemed to naturally fit into it, as if it were no ordeal she wear something that didn't belong to her, and belonging to someone of the male gender, nonetheless. Seeing the coat on her made Hiro undergo something of an epiphany. So this was the guy, huh. The one she must have brought into the storage unit who accidentally left the sweatshirt there. Or... or was it accidental? Was this guy just some jerk who thought it'd be fun to taunt Hiro? Some men were like that; they looked at women as conquests and a challenge more than a person. Well Hiro didn't want to take the bait. He may have hurt Maka in the past but she was still a really good friend dammit! And if this guy was using her to inflate his own damn ego then there was no way Hiro would sit back and let it happen.

That's how he got into this predicament, glancing through the window into the trendy restaurant before marching towards the entrance with determination and shoving past the hoard of people waiting to be seated and complaining when Hiro walked right in. He didn't care; it wasn't like he was going to be staying long.

* * *

Soul wanted to smack himself for being so forward. Maka had been shivering and looking rather cold. even with her stupid sweatery-thing on, she looked like she was in the midst of a raging snow storm. It _was_ a little cool in the interior of the place, but he supposed Maka was prone to being chilly. One look at her shiver and wrap her arms around herself and he knew he lost.

It was natural to pick the coat off the back of his chair and dump it on her head teasingly.

"Don't want my partner in crime freezing to death on me. We're about to become rich, and I'd rather you not be a popsicle when that time comes."

Maka poked her head out from the coat he threw on her and blushed heavily, looking down when she placed it around herself comfortably like a blanket of sorts. "Shut up! I don't have the body mass to keep myself warm!'

"I can tell, Tiny Tits."

"Asshole!"

Their exchange wasn't going unnoticed by the rest of the group at the table. They did their usual banter between Soul insulting her lack of chest and surplus of shrillness, and Maka insulting his sharp teeth and lethargic nature. They went on for a few minutes as everyone smirked knowingly at the duo, especially Liz who leaned over to Patty eagerly.

"Should I start taking bets now?" Patty snickered and nodded, handing the older Thompson sister a twenty.

"One week," she giggled.

By the time Maka and Soul were close to being done bickering, she was no longer feeling cold and Liz had a noticeable bump in the pocket of her jacket.

"What were you guys doing?" Maka asked skeptically, glaring at Liz in particular. Just as she was about to respond with a lame excuse, a loud voice interrupted their dinner.

"DO YOU THINK MY FRIEND IS A CHALLENGE, SCISSOR-TEETH?"

They all turned to the source of this angrily exclaimed question, a lanky blond boy who was clearly nervous and uncertain. All their eyes widened in recognition except Soul's, who was probably the most confused at the moment. Maka, however, addressed the person in a way that led Soul to understand the entire situation perfectly.

"_Hiro?!"_

* * *

**Tada!**


	10. Chapter 10

#guesswhoisback #me

* * *

Chapter 10: Shady Lady

She sat in the corner of the new restaurant, knocking her straw from side to side of her glass of lemonade before letting out a long sigh.

"Don't you find this a little demeaning?" she asked her "partner in crime" as she called him.

Situations like this were typically reserved for children's cartoons; it wasn't something adults did without at least losing a bit of their dignity. Yet here she was, stuck with this idiot as they watched a group of people a few tables away.

"I dunno Eruka," her companion responded, "Spying is kind of fun."

Spying. The word left a nasty taste in her mouth.

To make a long story short, her boss, Medusa, threatened (and seriously so) to fire her and Free if they didn't do her dirty work in the business. This all started two years ago when the older business leader noticed something in her two workers that she deemed suitable for being sly. Since then, Eruka and Free had been sent to make shady deals, trick people in the business, and overall make it so Medusa could be the filthy rich woman she was with as little honest work as possible. In short: they were unwilling henchmen.

"Why are we watching these people again? They seem rather boring. All they've talked about is sports and stupid jokes." Free slumped over on the table, whimpering in boredom.

"Well I'm not sure what's so interesting about these guys either but apparently Medusa wants to find dirt on the blond girl with pigtails and the guy that looks like a white-haired anime character."

"You know why?"

Eruka shrugged, "I think she mentioned something about how they'd be good for two things. I know one of them is the usual- they have an idea that's practically complete that she can take and sell for a lot. The other though… I think it has to do with that hot kid they're sitting with…"

"The blue haired one?" Free asked innocently.

"No you idiot! The one with the golden eyes…"

Free stared at aforementioned guy and hummed to himself, "Yeah he is kind of hot. Wait…"

"What is it?"

"Isn't that Kid? You know, one of the richest people in the country and business extraordinaire? I already see where Medusa is getting at."

Eruka scoffed, "She's so selfish, as always."

"But that doesn't change the fact we lose our jobs if we don't do this shit."

The two of them sighed and dropped their heads, "But it's so boring…." Eruka said for the both of them.

"DO YOU THINK MY FRIEND IS A CHALLENGE, SCISSOR-TEETH?"

With that, Eruka and Free's heads shot up, looking to see the owner of the voice that caused such a sudden silence in the greater portion of the restaurant.

Some blond and awkward kid had walked up to the table they were supposed to be eavesdropping on, delivering the liberation from boredom they had so desperately been wishing for.

"_Hiro?"_ The girl with the pigtail screeched in surprise.

"This is interesting…" Free whispered, only to have Eruka's hand slap over his mouth and keep him quiet. She lived for this kind of drama, and he was _not _going to interrupt it.

The poor boy who had made a big scene now seemed unsure of himself, like he was forcing himself to do whatever it was he was doing. Which, if she was to be objective, was straight up embarrassing himself.

"I- I just don't think that this guy seems nice and um…"

Pigtails and Red-eyes blushed heavily, causing one of the two girls who looked like sisters at the table to burst out laughing before Kid shushed her immediately. Eruka was definitely unsure of what was going on, and _definitely_ was enjoying it.

* * *

"H-he's my- um- my-"

"He's Maka-poo's new squeeze!" Patty laughed openly before Kid's quick hand could even cover her mouth. The damage was done. Hiro's face was scandalized.

"Look, I don't have a problem with you dating anyone but-"

"We are NOT dating!" Maka screeched in protest.

"…Oh. Th-then who-"

"Friend. I'm her friend," Soul offered, and it was then everyone noticed his chair was inches further away from Maka's than it had just been moments ago."

"O-oh. Sorry I didn't think- What I mean is- uh? Hi, I'm Hiro?"

Even Kid's mouth turned to a smirk at that. The awkwardness in the air was tangible.

"Hi, I'm Soul Evans, and I'm slightly terrified I'm not going to lie."

"Did you want to sit down Hiro? Like- uh- catch up?" Maka awkwardly offered. To be honest, she didn't know what social protocol would entail in a moment like this. Her resentment towards Hiro had long since faded, replaced by what she could only assume was gratitude now that she has tasted freedom. If he hadn't left her hanging at their wedding, then she wouldn't have learned what the other half of the world she had been denied for so long was like.

"Um, now isn't a good time but, uh, if there's any way I can properly apologize for- you know-"

"It's fine," Maka smiled, genuinely, waving him off as if he had just accidentally shrunk her sweater in the dryer rather than bail out on their wedding.

"Oh, then that's that. Really, I'm sorry. I hope that we can go back to being friends, right?"

Maka nodded happily, thankful that the occupants of the table were, at least pretending, to be immersed in their own conversations.

Hiro had awkwardly parted ways with them after that, partly mortified and partly relived that at least his friendship with Maka wasn't in shambles like he had assumed.

On the way out of the restaurant, however, a hand rested on his shoulder to stop him. He turned to see a very tall man and a younger looking girl with a creepy smile.

"Uh hi?"

"Hello! We're here because of a common interest, care to help?"

Hiro tilted his head in confusion, but his inner business man begged him to keep listening.

* * *

Hiro walked into a dark room, gagging on the cliché, but also low-key scared. While the room was dim, he could make out a desk with who he could only assume was the person he was intended to meet sitting in it.

"Ah, Mr. Hiro?"

"Yes, that's me," he answered, professionally, before taking a seat on the other side of the desk. He was faced with a woman, middle aged and business-like, smiling back at him.

"Do you know why you're here?"

"Boy, this is like being in the principal's office all over again," he grinned, used to making jokes to lighten the humor in meetings.

"Mm, that actually gives me hope. Did you get in trouble often as a child?"

Hiro tried not to make a comment about how this entire scene felt like the beginning to a B-grade porno and instead focus on the fact he was potentially making a good business deal, a chance to make his father proud because God _knows _his parents were pissed when he bailed on Maka and threatened his status with Shibusen Hotels.

"I'd get in trouble here and there. Nothing out of the ordinary."

The woman smirked, "That's a shame. I'm looking for someone who is good at breaking rules. Look, we both know that in this city, getting in with Shibusen is a one-way ticket to fortune and success. But I can't do it without you and you can't do it without me.

"How is that?" He asked, intrigued.

"I can guarantee you a _generous _sum of money in addition to finalizing the deal with Shibusen as long as you help me out with something."

"And what's that?"

"You need to do some talking to a certain Kid for me…"

* * *

Maka held the phone to her ear as she flipped the page of her book, finding it difficult to multitask at the moment, "Hello?"

"Yeah, um, we're fucked."

Maka's brows furrowed in confusion and she felt like rolling her eyes but she knew Soul wouldn't see the action on the other line.

"Meaning?"

"That check that Medusa lady gave us…"

"What about it?"

"Welp, it is hella fake. The lady at the bank kind of hurt my feelings too- made me feel stupid. The name on the check is Harry Butts I swear that woman has a sick sense of humor. How did we not notice that?"

Maka did roll her eyes this time, "We were distracted by the giant ass amount of money."

"It could be a mist-"

"I don't think so. Remember what that person on the elevator said? I knew that Medusa was shady from the start. I'm pulling the idea from her. Sucks to suck but I'm not settling a deal with someone who would give us a fake as hell check."

"I'll go talk to Medusa. Maybe it really is a mistake."

Maka was already halfway out the door, walking down the hall, when Soul responded.

"I dunno I just have a bad feeling. Look, I have to go to work but I'll be back at eight. We'll discuss then. Anywhoo, peace out pigtails."

"Mhm." Maka hung up, pocketing her phone. She felt semi-guilty going to Medusa without Soul, but she knew the white-haired boy had no spine in situations like this. Maka, on the other hand, wasn't afraid to tear Medusa a new asshole.

So that's how Maka found herself, not an hour later, ready to pull out the bitch's hair if she didn't wake up and realize this was just some sort of nightmare.

"_Excuse me?_" Maka hissed, infuriated.

"You heard me," Medusa smirked, pleased with herself, "Either I sell your idea as my own or you get me a deal with Shibusen. Choice is yours."

"You can't do this- Soul put his, well, _soul_ into making that storyline!"

"And you two never did business with me. I have all your ideas and the means to produce them. No one has to credit you, no one would believe you. I really hate to break it to you but I have the upper hand here."

"What makes you think I trust you enough to not sell it even if I set up the deal?"

"I'm evil but not _that _evil," Medusa sighed, twirling a pen between her fingers. "Besides, this isn't a choice as much as it is a threat. I already have someone in place that can break your entire life if you don't agree to this."

Maka stood, finding herself stuck, utterly and truly, for the first time in her life.

"Wha-"

Medusa, as if knowing what Maka would ask, answered the unasked question.

"If you don't agree to this deal, I can, with proof of course, break your personal life."

"H-how?"

"I've made a friend quite recently. You know Hiro, right?"


	11. Chapter 11

this was written in 10 minutes so i can say i've never left a fanfic unfinished. complete and utter shit from 2 years ago, sorry fam.

* * *

The #End

Okay so there were a few things on the rest of the day's to do list.

First and foremost would be decking this Medusa lady in the head, if Maka had her way.

Second would be finding Hiro and bitchslapping him because- dude, what the fuck? Did they not just make up and heal their broken friendship?

Honestly Maka didn't know who she could trust anymore and she was rather sick of the universe fucking her over without permission. If there was one thing she hated it was ultimatums in which she couldn't come out on top- aka, this thing.

On one hand, this was Soul's baby. This story line was everything to him and it definitely could be his breakthrough pitch if they worked hard enough. On the other hand, Maka was too prideful to ask Kid to help her out- and the morals of such an arrangement were extremely skewed. She couldn't let Medusa win like that, especially not regarding Kid's business. She cared about her friend too much.

"Who do you think you are?" she hissed at Medusa, eyes narrowed at the witch of a person. "Don't you believe in karma? This shit is going to bite you in the ass one day."

Medusa smiled warmly, "And when that happens I'll be glad to be bitten in the ass while sitting on my multi-million dollar career, thank you very much."

Alright. Pissed was an understatement now. Still, if she could just buy some time...

"How long do I have to make a decision?"

Medusa grinned, pleased that the power was being practically handed to her on a silver platter. The wounded pride evident on Maka's face must have been the cherry on top for her, really.

"Oh, I don't know," she sighed in a manner that was very much staged. She flicked something imaginary off her nail as if the thought never crossed her diabolical mind. So. Cliche. "I suppose a week will do. I have other meetings to occupy myself with in the meantime. If you could get back to me in seven days then, that would work."

Maka was sure she was snarling at this point, unable to hide her pure fury from this witch of a woman. Medusa, on the other hand, looked positively giddy with herself.

"Fine. I'll be back in a week. Just tell me... What did Hiro do?"

"Oh dear, a more appropriate question would be what is he _already doing. _I swear that boy will do anything to be in his family's good graces after what's happened between you two."

Maka froze, shocked. There was no way someone as removed from her life as Medusa would know something like this unless she did some serious snooping. Aside from feeling completely violated (which she did), Maka felt another pang of fury. Just what did this woman gain from this? The money couldn't have been enough to make it worth the guilt, right?

But the look in Medusa's eyes made Maka think that maybe this woman was capable of not feeling guilt. Perhaps she was immune to it.

"I-I don't think Hiro would do something like that."

"Wrong, again. He's looking to make a deal with Shibusen just as much as I am. And you know what they say, Ms. Albarn. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or, at least that's all Hiro needs to think in the meantime."

And Maka swore that in that moment Medusa _cackled. _Like a witch. Unable to stand in the presence of such a horrible being a second longer, Maka stormed out of the room, flipping off the woman behind her in the meantime.

Once in the elevator, Maka groaned upon noticing she was with awkward Pinky again. Did they just ride the elevator at the most inconvenient of times?

"Hello."

"Uh, hey."

"You should never have come here. She's always like this."

It's said in such a whimsical manner that Maka had to laugh. If she didn't know any better she'd assume she was in some low budget horror movie that was more hilarious than actually daunting. Still, the fact she should have, in fact, listened to this person is eerie enough regarding her own hindsight.

"What's your name?" Maka asked, trying to distract herself from how pissed off she is at Medusa. The person hummed lightly and brushed their feet across the ground, grinning up upon reaching a few seconds of consideration.

"Crona."

Maka could have left it at that; she really could have. But the smile lighting up their face upon being asked their name was reason enough to continue the conversation, as lacking as it may have been.

"So do you work here, Crona?"

The pink-haired individual whipped their head around and smiled again, nodding enthusiastically.

"For my mom! She's kind of mean though..."

Maka wondered if everyone here was mean. Mean was an understatement. More like psychotic assholes (at Medusa).

"I'm sorry about that. If you want to talk about it..."

"Does this..." the person started, eyes wide and smile a bit mad, "does this mean we're friends? Oh goody!"

After an "oh goody" so enthusiastic it could break a small child's heart, Maka by no means had it in herself to deny such a request. So naturally, or as naturally as one can force with someone grinning at them like a jack-o-lantern, Maka managed a nod.

"Sure."

"Friends help each other."

"Ah, yes they do..."

Damn, she forgot already.

"Crona," the person reminded her, unoffended and unfaltering.

"Yes they do, Crona. My name is Maka Albarn."

"I can help you," Crona said without so much a thought. Maka stilled, wondering if this person was serious or if they were just as nutty as the head bitch they work for ( Medusa). Crona puled something out of a front pocket, twirling it as if a game. Belatedly, Maka recognized it as a flash drive. The sinister action of it all made Maka believe for a second that she'll have to fork over something in exchange for this ambiguous prize, and she's tight on money as it is. But before she can open her mouth to protest, Crona is handing it over without a second thought.

"Here you go, friend."

"Uh, thanks. Why-?"

"Because no one ever pays attention to me. You did."

* * *

She waited until she has Soul with her. Then, it was time to figure out what this Crona person had in store.

Once the laptop was turned on and the flashdrive is injected ("This better not be a damn virus, Maka. I only have- like- four things I enjoy in life and one of them is this laptop") the file that popped up is a short audio clip. Curiously, Maka only hovered the curser over the file for a quick moment before opening it.

She was honestly expecting this to be some sort of trick. Perhaps a parting gift from the bitch they call Medusa. However, what they were instead greeted with was the conversation with Medusa where she laid out every aspect of her cliche and diabolical plan. Damn. Is payback a bitch or what?

"Who got this?" Soul breathed, red eyes wide and smile lighting up his face. Poor kid needed a breakthrough.

"The person from the elevator. I just... can't help but feel that..."

"That this is too good to be true?"

Maka made a sound of recognition but not an exact answer. In a way she agreed with him. This was practically handed to her on a silver platter. Still...

"I don't think it was Crona."

"Who?"

"Crona."

"Um..."

"Pink-haired person that reminds you of a pilgrim with a subpar dye job."

"Ah, yes."

It was silent for a few moments as the conversation on the computer died, the file still staring back at the two bewildered people on the other side of the screen. So maybe this was their chance to get their idea back, or even to sue. But there's no way this random person would just have this recorded and on tap. Something wasn't right...

"I think... something is wrong," Maka explained as she frowned at the screen. She stood up despite Soul's nagging that she needed to accept the good in life (psh, hypocrite) and walked towards her cell phone that she had earlier tossed on the counter. With a few buttons pressed and a voice on the other end, she could only manage three words.

A thankful smile took over her lips.

"Thank you, Hiro."

She didn't know how he did it, but apparently their friendship didn't die from the unfortunate circumstances of their forced wedding. Actually, she'd never been so thankful that he ran out on her. If he hadn't then she wouldn't have met Soul. She wouldn't have branched into new things like creative storytelling. She wouldn't be indulging in fast food so much (which, by the way, _delicious)_. In the end, she had Hiro to thank.

She couldn't hear it, but she could feel the smile Hiro offers on the other side of the line.

* * *

Okay, so a lot happened in the past six and a half months.

Not all of which Maka feels privy to expose on behalf of the public's sanity. She lives kind of a crazy life at the moment, so it's unavoidable that some of her experiences involve her friends having too much alcohol (a scary amount) and Blackstar trying to give Kid a lap dance as a joke in which Tsubaki could only sigh and shake her head as Kid nearly passed out.

But then, details.

As for the more notable aspects of Maka's life in the past six and a half months... well, they can be summarized quite easily.

For starters, Medusa got hella wrecked in court. Like, hecka money wrecked. Still, they didn't ask for too much since it was never their intention to take her money in the first place. But seeing her life and reputation get fucked up faster than a college freshman at their first party was well worth the time and effort at court.

The next thing that happened was Blackstar and Tsubaki deciding to get married. Too soon? Very much so. Unromantic? Maka supposes not. Even if they'd only been official for less than a year, deciding to tie the knot wasn't a horrible idea considering how much they have romantic boners for each other. Besides, if Maka was judging their decisions, she'd long since lost the right to critique anyone's marriages.

After that, Soul and Maka's movie idea was bought by a professional, legitimate company. Apparently they were recommended by Kid who was informed about the movie in detail by Patty who happened to overhear Maka one day when she was on the phone with Soul. This wouldn't be weird had the phone call not been when Maka was sure she was in the car alone. Then again, Patty is one step away from Crona in their unpredictable department.

And yes, Soul and Maka got together. It was rather anticlimactic, honestly. They had been watching television with a pizza on the coffee table and the commercial for a new blender came on and he looked over and asked as if inquiring about something like the weather.

"We should like... go out. Cool?"

She let out a sigh, unamazed that this was his approach to the subject that's been a second layer to their friendship for quite some time. It's never been spoken, but they're both aware.

"Sure. Why not."

So they go on a date.

And then a second,

and then a third.

And eventually they realize the dates aren't special not so much because they don't like each other (quite the opposite, really) but more because they've been lowkey dating for a few months already and just never put a name on their peculiar relationship.

Another few months down the line, when the movie has been cast and is playing in theaters, it's not insanely popular but it's not unpopular either. They don't see it until it's already been out a few weeks because despite their input they didn't really get much say in the movie. Still, it's pretty amazing to see the characters acting out in a way they've decided.

It's action packed. It's jaw dropping. It leaves them on the edge of their seats even though they're pretty sure they know what's going to happen.

Then the curtains draw. Metaphorically, of course, since curtains in theaters aren't really drawn anymore these days.

It's silent as people get up from their seats and flood out of the theater. The music playing as the credits roll signal their time to exit as well. But...

"Now what?" Maka asks, feeling completely unsure of what to do now that their goal from the past few months had been fufilled.

Soul shrugs and takes her hand in his before offering a toothy smile.

"Wanna get McDonald's?"

* * *

Sorry for the shitty change w/ past and present tense. oops


End file.
